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Re: The Classic Animation Thread

Mr Vertigo wrote:

Modern cartoons have beautiful animation too, you know. mini/wink

The second one (the highway man) to me was more creepy from beginning to end than beautiful.  Feel free to disagree.

I really enjoy the retro look of the new Mickey Mouse series of shorts.  Also, Speaking of Disney's golden age toons, if you like the classic Disney/RKO cartoons, the series they released are in beautiful metal tins, and contain commentaries from Leonard Malton, one of the few critics I tolerate.  The series are half animated shorts and half live-action specials.  Noteworthy is the Choronolgical Donald (Duck), worth getting.  My favorite Donald videos feature his nephews, especially ones where they ty to do something nice for Donald but he thinks they're up to no good!  Donald's Happy Birthday is a good example of that, and under today's MMPA would absurdly be rated R.

But personally, I love the specific Goofy cartoons that were presented in documentary style.  Motor Mania is a perfect example of this style.  I'm sure these are on youtube or somewhere.

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Re: The Classic Animation Thread

"What's up, Doc?"

We all look at that as Bugs Bunny's trademark greeting.

But we've been desensitized over the decades as to why that was so funny.

I hear "Doc" being added to anything he says in any ad he appears in.  We take it for granted.  We have to take ourselves back to a time when there was no Bugs Bunny, and an unsuspecting world met him for the first time.

It was 1940, and Bugs Bunny's first feature, "A Wild Hare", directed by my favorite animation director of all Time, Tex Avery, was released.  Elmer Fudd was out rabbit hunting and met Bugs Bunny, who comes out of his rabbit hole and says, Eh.... What's up, Doc?"  Audiences went wild with hysterical laughter and he became an instant hit.  People would attend movies just to see Bugs saying "What's up, Doc?" before the main feature.  It was something new to film: When faced with impending death, Bugs Bunny responded calmly, almost oblivious to his impending doom.  And he manages to get out of it with an attitude, and never losing his cool.  Over time, "What's up Doc" became trite, but the audiences of 1940 would never forget this unexpected reaction at the end of a gun barrel.

I'm reminded of this because of the recent Lego Dr. Who Death's Head crossover brickfilm recently released.  Death's Head is, in a sense, Elmer Fudd, and Dr. Who is Bugs Bunny, ever calm and never losing his wit even in the face of someone relentlessly trying to kill him.  I particularly like the line where

Spoiler (click to read)

Dr. Who repeats a line, after Death's Head says, "No one ever says that to me twice!" (implying he kills them before they have an opportunity).  Dr. Who had that opportunity and it infuriates Death's Head!

  Classic Bugs Bunny!

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Re: The Classic Animation Thread

Today i watched the famous Merrie Melody featuring Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle, "Tortoise Wins By a Hare".  This is the second in the Bugs Tortoise & The Hare cartoons, produced by Leon Schlessinger.

So hilarious!  I appreciate them so much more as an adult, and laugh even harder!  This one features a rabbit mafia invested in Bugs Bunny winning the race. "Wes don't even thin that the toitle will finish!"

RABBIT, SCHMABBIT!  YOu'RE THE TOITLE!

RABBIT!
TOITLE!
RABBIT!
TOITLE!
RABBIT!
TOITLE!
RABBBITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

This is from my own cartoon collection so it was uncensored.

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Re: The Classic Animation Thread

If you love all things Looney Tunes, then you'll probably enjoy this web series on YouTube. It's a channel mostly about reviewing animated movies, but he's currently working on a very interesting series about the history of certain Looney Tunes characters!

Last edited by William Osborne (November 19, 2016 (05:23pm))

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Re: The Classic Animation Thread

I'll look into this.  If it's about classic cartoons, I'm sure I will enjoy this series.

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Re: The Classic Animation Thread

Another thing about "Tortoise Wins By a Hare", is that it's one of those cartoons when Bugs Bunny loses.  The "hero" can lose in the earlier Looney Tunes.  By the by, from here on, when I refer to "Looney Tunes", that also includes Merrie Melodies as well.  During the Chuck Jones era, the characters evolved to where Daffy Duck turned egocentric, and became Bugs Bunny's foil.  Bugs never lost in those cartoons.  The only exception is in "Rabbit Rampage", where Elmer Fudd exacts revenge on Bugs by taking the role of the animator and drawing things that cause havoc for him.

In the Chuck Jones era, I prefer to see Daffy in cartoons paired with Porky Pig, where they had unusual but effectively funny chemistry together.  This pairing was probably inspired by the huge amounts of hilarity when they were together in the Bob Clampett cartoon, "Tick Tock Tuckered" (1944), where they try to get a good night's sleep.  They do work well together.  Daffy/Porky Pig team-up cartoons continued all the way deep into the McKimson era.

EDIT: By the way, McKimson was an animator on Tick Tock Tuckered, a quarter century before he presided over the closure of WB's animation studio.

Last edited by HoldingOurOwn (November 20, 2016 (08:24am))

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