Reinventing The Animated Wheel
Uncle Andrew
Scott Simon had a great commentary on this just-passed Weekend Edition Saturday regarding the WB Network’s plan to “reimagine” the Classic Looney Tunes characters for contemporary child audiences. The new show, titled “Loonatics”, rebadges such famous characters as Bugs, Daffy, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner as futuristic superheroes.
Here’s their press-release picture:
Now, I don’t have much hope for this project, but I don’t have much resentment for it, either. Simon made the valid point in his diatribe that, if you are forced to “reimagine” something so wonderful in its original form, it’s probably because you lack imagination in the first place. Well put. However, this isn’t the first time the Looney Toons characters have been reimagined. The Amblin Entertainment program Tiny Toons Adventures was a nicely-done show, quite original and amusing (though I greatly prefer Amblin’s other gem, Animaniacs).
And, if nothing else, it is highly unlikely that Loonatics could possibly be worse than the flaccid, airless modern Looney Toons episodes that Warner Bros. cobbled together in the 80’s and 90’s. Man, those were stinkers!
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February 24th, 2005 at 1:06 pm
That’s sacralige. Those things look like they were sent to a god awful japanese anime shop. You don’t cross Pokemon with classic cartoon characters. If this is what todays kids think is great, there is no hope for this country.
February 24th, 2005 at 7:31 pm
Yeh, I don’t like them either, but I have to admit I don’t know whether the humor used in the classic Looney Tunes ‘toons would really resonate with “The Youf”. Of course, the classy thing to do at that point would be to leave the damn thing alone….but if The Matrix: Reloaded has taught us anything, it is that having a better idea is not required when deciding to rework an already good idea.
February 26th, 2005 at 2:16 pm
Good gods. Goth meets Warner Brothers classic cartoons meets animation designers who coudln’t draw their way out of a wet paper sack (with sharpened pencils, yet!). Oh, the horror, the horror! :p
I have fond memories of Tiny Toons and Animaniacs. Then again, those folks could draw (and write). Who the heck came up with these guys? They must have upped the minimum drink limit in the Marketing department again…