Wabbit: A NEW Looney Tunes Production

So I know this topic is being discussed in the CN Upfront thread, but I think it deserves it's important enough to warrant it's own discussion.

Personally, I think it looks interesting. The promo art looks much sketchier and more rounded than the previous incarnation, and he's not "purple" this time. Hopefully the new characters will be funny

Gonna follow this thread.

A tvtropes page was also made on the day of the announcement.

Jessica, the character designer for The Looney Tunes Show, returns here, and I personally admire her work and trust that she will take care of these characters well. That's her drawing in the poster. ... and please ... the purple color, ..... let it go.

edited 12th Mar '14 10:18:46 AM by kyun

I like the art.

I like Jessica Borrutski.

I like the idea of comedy shorts.

So so far it's all things I like.

But you know TV so they could easily screw it up.

We could use a GOOD Looney Tunes adaptation almost everyone can agree on, if we must have one at all... The Looney Tunes Show didn't do that. It's up to this newcommer, then.

Work. Cut. Out.

.... does anyone think this is the Laugh Riot pitch they wanted to make before it became The Looney Tunes Show?

Dirk Erik Schulz, whose art is here, might become a storyboard artist on this. We'll see.

edited 12th Mar '14 10:31:43 AM by kyun

A show on Laugh Riot 's level would more than make up for past mistakes... But they need to be able to get away with such humor, more than anything.

They need the timing and pacing to be PERFECT. The pace in The Looney Tunes Show had way too many second-long empty pauses, and characters spoke way too slowly!

IS that possible anymore? I'm talking more about visual gags and more effective use of cartoon violence. That, besides your points, is what a modern Looney Tunes cartoon needs to be relevant in this day & age.

.... I think it's a problem either because of off-shoring (studios overseas often need an easy way to understand enough of the animatics to animate them, so those Korean-made or Indian-made cartoons tend to have basic, sluggish timing, DEFINITELY nowhere near the professional pacing of Hollywood films), or making it easier for audio to be dubbed into other languages (providing clear start and end pauses between all lines, which just makes everything come off as slower than you feel it should be.

To be honest, I have seen more modern cartoons that manage to get the right pacing down to emulate the Looney Tunes style well, so it's not impossible.

Personally, I was with this until I read the part that said "…and he’ll have some help from new friends like Bigfoot and Squeaks the squirrel." That...worries me. They don't necessarily need to be bad additions, but it strikes me as something a bit unnecessary. Try to find a solid groove with your old characters again before you introduce new ones. I'll try to keep an open mind about this, but I'm still gonna be cautious about it.

If they're experimenting with new tunes, I hope they all have a trait that's just as hilarious and memorable and quotable as the established tunes. Because otherwise it would feel like a letdown.

Also, if they're just gonna do that, please bring back the Lola from The Looney Tunes Show. Please! She rocked. And was actually a great addition to the cast.

I'm worried it'll be written by writers as opposed to being storyboarded by cartoonists.

I'm sorry - but Some pros and cons to both sides would be nice to understand why you feel the way you do regarding this.

Laugh Riot, IIRC, was going to be the work of Paul Dini and some writers affiliated to him. I'm under the impression this is a different team, since dini is still working with Marvel AFAIK.

I think new characters are almost a need at this point, or at least give the old ones some new slapstick routines, because by now the old jokes have been recycled so much you can see the punchlines and delivery coming from a mile away.

Because at Termite Terrace, they didn't have wrtiers doing scripts in the traditional sense. They storyboarded everything and gags developed very organically. Slapstick doesn't work quite as well written by scriptwriters because often physical comedy doesn't sound funny on paper. So in general script tends to be very dialogue driven, with less fun and exaggeration in the movement. Illustrated radio, as Mr. Chuck Jones called it.

Which for certain shows, is fine. But if they intend to come near the wackiness of Termite Terrace, they gotta do it storyboard driven.

Though there are a lot more factors than just that to determine if the show is any good.

You know what also was good about the old Looney Tunes Shorts? The Surprising amount of Pop Cultural References that worked with in it (The Most Obvious ones involve Giant Oafs that want to "Pet the Bunny"). If this show can somehow make Pop Cultural References that don't suck, and actually fit the scenario, then this really could be a true Successor to the Original Looney Tunes.

Still, I really like that Poster.

I wonder if this series will allow for Merrie Melodies like episodes, like a full-on Dafty episode, Foghorn, or Porky.

I feel dumb, since those of you talking about Laugh Riot (whatever that is) made me think you were talking about Laugh In.

If they're going to be including Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd, I don't see why/how they couldn't include an updated Duck Season, Rabbit Season. What I'm most worried about is how much they try to update the joke (there's just some things that should just be left classic).

And if we're going that route, I want a Marvin The Martian episode.

It was the discarded show The Looney Tunes Show was going to be before they retooled the concept. However, the Casa de Calma episode apparently was a leftover script from that stage, hence why it felt somewhat different from the rest of the series.

I'd love seeing an updated entry into the hunting trilogy!

I would too. Question is- how would they?

If it's anything like the new Wile E and Roadrunner cartoons, I probably won't be looking forward to it. They didn't keep the dynamic simple and instead changed RR from a Captain Oblivious to actively being involved in the schemes.

If they do update it, I hope it doesn't come across as cheap- like Bugs and Daffy posting tweets on the Blagosphere about the change in season to confuse Elmer or using cell phones to call different hunters. Don't be too clever with the situations- the shorts were mainly about fast paced wordplay than any uber cool environment.

edited 12th Mar '14 9:45:12 PM by Mattonymy

I kinda liked the more active RR. I thought the old formula had already ran dry anyway.

Indeed. Whenever tech was included in the shorts, the artists made sure to keep them a bit old-guard for their time, so it wouldn't date the shorts. They could go all out for celebrity references though.

When it comes to cartoons like this - Celebrites (especially making fun of them) is A - OK in my book as long as it isn't overdone. Trying to be all hip with pop - cultural stuff... Not so much, due to dating capabilities of said subject.

I don't think I'd want to see such stuff in a show like this, unless it were an actual sliceOfLife show (and even those kinds of shows don't need to rely too much on such stuff.), which Looney Tunes ultimately does not work as...