Hopefully Not Stupid
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Loonatics?! Also, WB's update track record
Q: How stupid are Warner Bros. executives?
A: This stupid:
(Picture scavanged off of Michael Barrier's blog.)
The picture shows the redesign of Bugs Bunny into yet another of those ill-advised spin-offs WB tends to make every few years, seeking to reimagine and modernize the classic Warner Bros. characters.
I don't have a scanner handy, but right in front of me is a picture in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution which provides pictures of the updates of Wile E. Coyote, the Tazmanian Devil, Daffy Duck and the Road Runner (and also Space Jam-introduced wannabe Lola Bunny), and except for the TD it's almost impossible to tell them apart. Don't they see this is going to tank SO BAD. Does the process of getting an MBA just drain all appreciation for wit and humor from your brain? There have got to be people in the pipeline making this show who can see this, why aren't they speaking up?
Even more indicative of a fundamental disconnect with reality by these people -- the thinking that informes the update to the classic characters is based on the fact that the Duck Dodgers series on Cartoon Network fizzled quickly, and the Looney Tunes: Back In Action movie lost $79 million dollars. Of course, the possibility that both of these implementations were lacking entirely the charm and cleverness of the original shorts, which were made on the cheap and yet are even now regarded as among the best cartoons ever made, that never occurs to the clueless folks now regrettably in charge of what is potentially animation's greatest property.
This strikes me as a good opportunity to go over the various recent attempts to update the classic Warner Bros. characters, and how they have, each, failed to recapture the spirit of the original.
(These are rated on a scale of one to ten anvils.)
TAZ-MANIA
Rating: Three anvils.
Some of the episodes of this show were actually good, but for every Bull and Axel cartoon (the best thing about the series) there was a so-so showing. The Taz character just didn't work that well as a teenager in a sorta-suburban setting. Also, the show was very... talky. Imagine what a cartoon with the Tazmanian Devil in it that could be regarded as talky would be like. That image is largely accurate. However, it must be said the animation was rather good.
TINY TOON ADVENTURES
Rating: Two anvils.
The first of the Stephen Spielberg-branded cartoons, even though he really didn't have a lot to do with them. Once in a while there was a good episode (the They Might Be Giants music videos are classics), but overall this show was way too pleased with itself. There are still people today who will swear up and down that it was brilliant, but they're still laboring the spell of childhood nostalgia. (The only reason people went to see Episode II, in my opinion.)
ANIMANIACS
Rating: Five anvils.
Once in a while this was brilliant, like with the oft-rerun Nations of the World song, or the "I'm Mad" theatrical short they put at the beginning of WB's otherwise-forgotten Thumbelina cartoon. Of the various cartoon shorts showcased in this show, the Warner Bros. were often very good, all these: Mindy and Buttons and Rita and Runt, were awful, but Slappy Squirrel was often surprisingly clever. Anything they showed that had the slighest hint of historical content tended to be crappy. This show, of course, was where Pinky and the Brain got its start, seguing smoothly into...
PINKY AND THE BRAIN
Rating: Six anvils.
Pinky and the Brain was often great (perhaps the greatest premise ever shown on Saturday morning), but also (somehow) suffered from Animaniacs' historical cartoon malaise. The better ones tended to be those that showed up earlier in the run, but there were excellent cartoons throughout its run. (Especially "Mouse of La Mancha", brilliant writing on that one.) This remains the high point of WB Animation's latter-day, non-Batman output.
TWEETY AND SYLVESTER MYSTERIES
Rating: One anvil.
Whoever came up with the idea for this should have been derided, but whoever decided to make it should have been shot.
BABY LOONEY TUNES
Rating: One anvil.
Jim Henson's Bugs Bunny Babies!
FREAKAZOID!
Rating: Six anvils.
Stands alongside PatB as the highlights of the age. Some of these cartoons push the "classic updates" premise of this post, but Freakzoid, despite being an obsensible superhero cartoon, was actually a clever parody of them. I don't include Road Rovers here because it was too far over the line into action cartoons (and sucked anyway). Freakazoid wasn't as good as the Tick, but then, what is? Also note that the Earthworm Jim cartoon was just as good, and also aired on Kids WB at about this time, but is largely forgotten today except as a videogame character.
DUCK DODGERS
Rating: Three anvils.
In this one they went back to trying up update classic characters and what do you know? They failed miserably. Their including things like a Green Lantern crossover cartoon prove that the creators of this show have absolutely no idea what made the classic characters great.
Q: How stupid are Warner Bros. executives?
A: This stupid:
(Picture scavanged off of Michael Barrier's blog.)
The picture shows the redesign of Bugs Bunny into yet another of those ill-advised spin-offs WB tends to make every few years, seeking to reimagine and modernize the classic Warner Bros. characters.
I don't have a scanner handy, but right in front of me is a picture in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution which provides pictures of the updates of Wile E. Coyote, the Tazmanian Devil, Daffy Duck and the Road Runner (and also Space Jam-introduced wannabe Lola Bunny), and except for the TD it's almost impossible to tell them apart. Don't they see this is going to tank SO BAD. Does the process of getting an MBA just drain all appreciation for wit and humor from your brain? There have got to be people in the pipeline making this show who can see this, why aren't they speaking up?
Even more indicative of a fundamental disconnect with reality by these people -- the thinking that informes the update to the classic characters is based on the fact that the Duck Dodgers series on Cartoon Network fizzled quickly, and the Looney Tunes: Back In Action movie lost $79 million dollars. Of course, the possibility that both of these implementations were lacking entirely the charm and cleverness of the original shorts, which were made on the cheap and yet are even now regarded as among the best cartoons ever made, that never occurs to the clueless folks now regrettably in charge of what is potentially animation's greatest property.
This strikes me as a good opportunity to go over the various recent attempts to update the classic Warner Bros. characters, and how they have, each, failed to recapture the spirit of the original.
(These are rated on a scale of one to ten anvils.)
TAZ-MANIA
Rating: Three anvils.
Some of the episodes of this show were actually good, but for every Bull and Axel cartoon (the best thing about the series) there was a so-so showing. The Taz character just didn't work that well as a teenager in a sorta-suburban setting. Also, the show was very... talky. Imagine what a cartoon with the Tazmanian Devil in it that could be regarded as talky would be like. That image is largely accurate. However, it must be said the animation was rather good.
TINY TOON ADVENTURES
Rating: Two anvils.
The first of the Stephen Spielberg-branded cartoons, even though he really didn't have a lot to do with them. Once in a while there was a good episode (the They Might Be Giants music videos are classics), but overall this show was way too pleased with itself. There are still people today who will swear up and down that it was brilliant, but they're still laboring the spell of childhood nostalgia. (The only reason people went to see Episode II, in my opinion.)
ANIMANIACS
Rating: Five anvils.
Once in a while this was brilliant, like with the oft-rerun Nations of the World song, or the "I'm Mad" theatrical short they put at the beginning of WB's otherwise-forgotten Thumbelina cartoon. Of the various cartoon shorts showcased in this show, the Warner Bros. were often very good, all these: Mindy and Buttons and Rita and Runt, were awful, but Slappy Squirrel was often surprisingly clever. Anything they showed that had the slighest hint of historical content tended to be crappy. This show, of course, was where Pinky and the Brain got its start, seguing smoothly into...
PINKY AND THE BRAIN
Rating: Six anvils.
Pinky and the Brain was often great (perhaps the greatest premise ever shown on Saturday morning), but also (somehow) suffered from Animaniacs' historical cartoon malaise. The better ones tended to be those that showed up earlier in the run, but there were excellent cartoons throughout its run. (Especially "Mouse of La Mancha", brilliant writing on that one.) This remains the high point of WB Animation's latter-day, non-Batman output.
TWEETY AND SYLVESTER MYSTERIES
Rating: One anvil.
Whoever came up with the idea for this should have been derided, but whoever decided to make it should have been shot.
BABY LOONEY TUNES
Rating: One anvil.
Jim Henson's Bugs Bunny Babies!
FREAKAZOID!
Rating: Six anvils.
Stands alongside PatB as the highlights of the age. Some of these cartoons push the "classic updates" premise of this post, but Freakzoid, despite being an obsensible superhero cartoon, was actually a clever parody of them. I don't include Road Rovers here because it was too far over the line into action cartoons (and sucked anyway). Freakazoid wasn't as good as the Tick, but then, what is? Also note that the Earthworm Jim cartoon was just as good, and also aired on Kids WB at about this time, but is largely forgotten today except as a videogame character.
DUCK DODGERS
Rating: Three anvils.
In this one they went back to trying up update classic characters and what do you know? They failed miserably. Their including things like a Green Lantern crossover cartoon prove that the creators of this show have absolutely no idea what made the classic characters great.
Fafblog: Homeland Joe!
What do you do when a bill is introduced to Congress offering the Department of Homeland Security unlimited power, that is a status of being able to ignore every federal law and of being immune to judicial oversight, and it passes the House of Representives after surviving, intact, a proposed admendment to remove that provision?
Well if you're Fafnir at the always-brilliant Fafblog, why you write this! Head 'em on, move 'em out, round 'em up, rawhide!
(Accidently posted this first over at the Other Blog, goes to show how focused I am these days....)
What do you do when a bill is introduced to Congress offering the Department of Homeland Security unlimited power, that is a status of being able to ignore every federal law and of being immune to judicial oversight, and it passes the House of Representives after surviving, intact, a proposed admendment to remove that provision?
Well if you're Fafnir at the always-brilliant Fafblog, why you write this! Head 'em on, move 'em out, round 'em up, rawhide!
(Accidently posted this first over at the Other Blog, goes to show how focused I am these days....)
