The New Looney Tunes Show

If it's like the Animaniacs, it'll be awesome. I make an official prediction of massive instances of Getting Crap Past the Radar.

Known unknown, I just heard about this show. I am kinda mixed on it. But as I was looking it up. The only major reason people are bashing this is because the animation is similar to a guy who is a fan of Bob Clampett.

^^^Cartoon Brew doesn't give mention that The Looney Tunes Show was the show that WB cancelled or that the show is not going to be like Animaniacs though. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if my about it being an A Day in the Limelight for the suburban professors at Looniversity.

edited 19th Nov '10 6:58:11 PM by Mattonymy

I’d prefer it if the animation were similar to Bob Clampett. Oh well, we’ll see. It at least sounds promising.

Well, at least they show evidence of learning from their mistakes. From what I hear they have a poster of Loonatics on the wall of their studio as an example of what not to do.

And anybody notice that the Bugs design for this show looks way more like his design from "A Wild Hare" than anything else?

The Road Runner shorts actually look pretty funny from what I've seen.

^^ He looks sort of like a mix between a few of his earlier styles with a few spins.

Daffy's design is sort of like a mix between Jones' and Mc Kimsons' Daffy's. Some of the rest give me either a Clampett vibe or a slight Tiny Toons vibe.

But still, Looney Tunes has changed character designs so much during it's 70+ years that while I get what people's problem is I don't really see the point of it. Bugs himself has at least three or four distinct designs not including this one, and Daffy's had tons.

I think the problem is that Bug's character design came in slight adjustments over the course of decades before settling into one that looked great, and that design has become iconic and been used for decades, and now it's suddenly been changed to one that doesn't look like a natural evolution of the previous design.

That, and the Thick-Line Animation is an issue. We're used to a very high quality of animation from the classic shorts and the new, simplified look doesn't give much hope that it'll be on par.

There's also the change in sizes. We're used to things like Bugs being a head taller than Daffy and Sylvester being twice as tall as Porky, and so forth. It's a bit jarring.

I, personally, everyone looks very "cutesy", almost like they were designed to be more marketable to children as plushies and such. I know, it's a rather cliched thing to say, but look at Taz! He looks downright huggable! They all do, except for Wile E. Coyote and even then they just need to cut the points of his cheeks if he's not selling well. They don't look like the sort to start reeking mayhem at the drop of a hat.

everyone looks very "cutesy", almost like they were designed to be more marketable to children as plushies and such.

I posted this video back on page 4, but I feel it is appropriate to show it again. This is an animated film done by Jessica Borutski, lead animator of The Looney Tunes Show. It looks like it should Tastes Like Diabetes and does.

[[youtube:GHt2JbrYTW8&feature=player_embedded]]

As for the show itself, the only thing that really concerns me is the Merrie Melody music segment, which could really be a hit or miss thing. I'm just really really they'll handle them like the Animaniacs did, with instead of stupid covers of pop songs, they are mainly focused on vintage Standard Snippets.

edited 21st Nov '10 7:02:17 PM by Mattonymy

By "original character models", I mean the classic ones that became standard once all the growing pains were over:

These◊. (Just ignore Lola, okay?)

edited 21st Nov '10 8:26:20 PM by Nate The Great

...a bunch of weblinks?

^^ I might understand that with Bugs, who came into a decent design and stuck with it, and Wile E. and Roadrunner, who were made in a certain design and never changed, but not with anyone else.

For me, the quintessential Daffy isn't Jones', for example, it's designs like the one in Duck Soup To Nuts. The most famous design for Porky likewise isn't really Jones', even though that's the design used more for Porky for a while now, it's actually the rounder, less humanized design seen in stuff like Porky In Wackyland. Marvin has likewise had several slightly different designs over time - he's not so much a problem because his design is likewise close to his original ones but slightly off, yet again.

Looney Tunes has a long history of constantly shifting character designs - perhaps the main reason they current ones have become so quintessential is less because they decided to stick with the designs but more because Looney Tunes didn't get much production after a certain point (Daffy's design changed again for the Speedy Gonzales cartoons, but that design, like the changes to his character, is terrible), and thus there wasn't an influx of new artists and writers, at least not to the extent that there was previously, to retool and add their own spins to the characters - by the time there was a fair amount of new production for Looney Tunes, the designs had already become classics.

But in any case, I think it's fairly unrealistic to expect that a medium so known for constantly reimagining characters would keep the same designs forever (especially now, which seems like the era for applying new styles to classic characters), and I prefer it this way, really. Perhaps I wouldn't have made such drastic changes for certain characters, like Bugs, but people would probably have complained anyway, so... yeah.

edited 21st Nov '10 9:41:13 PM by KnownUnknown

My problem, as I mentioned before, is that designs like, say, Daffy's or Porky's happened through small, judicious changes over the course of decades and these feel like they were changed on a whim. If we had consistently made Looney Tunes cartoons over the past fifty years, and the changes piled up and amounted to Bugs being short and purple, I'd probably take less issue with it, but instead we've had a few short-lived revivals and comeback films, all of which depicted Bugs in the way we've come to know him with no change whatsoever. It's jarring.

And again, Bugs here looks less like the sort of guy who'd make a gun explode in your face and more like he'd smell like grapes and spout adorable catchphrases when you squeeze him. ("Of course you realize this means war" does not count as adorable.)

edited 22nd Nov '10 12:03:11 AM by Wackd

But remember, it's the Looney Tunes Show not the Looney Tunes. Arguably, this show might have happened in an Alternate Universe where everything is set in a modern sitcom setting and Bugs and Daffy are now best friends.

Also Duck Dodgers' cast, with the exception of IQ High and Eager Young Space Cadet (albeit debatable), looked nothing like it's 1950s counterparts and the show still kicked ass. I think that's a testament to at least give LTS a chance.

edited 22nd Nov '10 1:58:18 AM by Mattonymy

Still annoyed we won't be seeing this show until next year, February. And I was really looking forward to watching the pilot.

edited 23rd Nov '10 1:32:08 PM by Mattonymy

Yeah. Of course, even though I really want to like this show, the delay kinda sets off a few warning bells in my head.

Just gotta say again, I can't wait for Daffy's characterization in this show, because already it seems alot more like his earlier one (well, from a couple short clips I think they might be going Mc Kimson, actually)

While his Jones characterization could be funny, it was nowhere near as dynamic and entertaining as his more loony personality, and I've always wondered what it would be like if him and Bugs teamed up instead of him being made the goat time and again.

edited 15th Dec '10 5:02:26 PM by KnownUnknown

Horrible crappy quality, even worse than the cam rip from the first The Disappearance Of Haruhi Suzumiya video, but at least it gives you a look at voices of Bugs and Slyvester. Daffy's character is dead on.

D I cracked out loud at "this is fun because..."!

D

Well, I am relieved to see that the animation isn't as limited as it first appeared! I can't wait to see more promos for it.

Not sure how clear it seemed in the video, but the new The Merry Go Round Broke Down BGM sounded AMAZING. Please please please let it be the Opening Theme.

Daffy's new character looks fun and interesting. He's like that irritatingly obliviously jerk friend you have but have no choice but to hang out with.

It also makes the clip here much funnier.

I hope Bugs and Daffy get chances to have some real trickster antics though - I always thought the best cartoon they could ever have had together is one where they team up instead of being at odds.

edited 4th Jan '11 7:36:15 PM by KnownUnknown

Like the climax scene in LTBIA?

Nah, more like how they worked together in that Louvre chase with Elmer! Not only were they working together, but they were obviously having fun doing it!

Though I prefer the Jones designs (and was bummed when the WB animation logo stopped using his Bugs), these new designs are pretty good...with the exception of Bugs. I'm not sure what exactly about it bothers me, but it just doesn't look right.

I'm not so sure Daffy will have his wacky personality back, since he's being paired with Bugs.

He seems less Ted Baxtery though.