WB animators on acid do makeover on Bugs Bunny and pals

[trekgeezer]

Bugs becomes Buzz and Daffy is just Duck, Taz is Spaz, and Wile E.  is just Slick. Now instead of Looney Tunes, they're Loonatics. They are calling them descendents of the originals because the show will be set in the 28th century.  Looks like something happened in the gene pool to me.

I was watching the  CBS Sunday morning show and they showed a little kid the classic Bugs and then Buzz.  He said the Buzz version looked evil.

Check out  the pics and a little Quicktime over at AICN.

MSNBC article

Loonatics Preview

[Ed]

Egad, that is horrible.  The guys at Warner are always trying to update the classic images and it never works.  Watch one of the ones from the 1930's compare it to the (I think, awful, those big eyes creep me out) Chuck Jones ones from the 1960's, and then watch this.  Sad.
-Ed

[ulthar]

Nothing is sacred anymore.

[odinn7]

"Nothing is sacred anymore."

Yeah, exactly what he said. It's disheartening really.

[daveblackeye15]

Hu!-AGH!UHH!OH!!!

This looks like not one of the greatest ideas ever made.In  fact it looks like one of the worst ideas ever!

I tried taking the commercial with an open mind , I liked the looks of the animation of the people but the moment I heard Bugs *ahem* Buzz's  voice uttering the immortal line "What's up Doc?" I just went berserk and turn the room apart.

At least they didn't disgrace Sylfestor or Tweety, but there's always the chance of them joining the team later or having cameos. What have they done to you Daffy Duck!!!??

Hey why don't they do one where they **** up a bunch of Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and co. and make them Super Heros, No better yet make them a rival superhero team that does battle against them. This show looks like it'll suck! Waaa! Why why why!!!?

[Wence]

I never had interest on bugs bunny&co, even as child, but these new figures look like total crap...

[raj]

This is just wrong.  A pox on their house and may this abomination fail utterly and spectacularly, serving as a warning to all those who want to do unspeakable things to Bugs & co.

[nobody]

It looks like these characters, and their superhero premise, was cranked out in a single afternoon. It might just be time to scrap the franchise.

[Dunners]

Ummm..okay. its not as horrible as I was expecting but its just not right. At least they're not remaking the characters over again and destroying all the original stuff.

To me this is just "Tiny toons 2: electric boobaloin da future"

[Yaddo 42]

Keith Olbermann and Harry Sherer were talking about this on Olbermann's show Friday. They noticed how hard companies like Time Warner work to inspire loyalty and affection for their characters and products, the better to sell us stuff with, yet when people balk at some new version of one of those sentimental favorites, their response to any criticism is "Get over it, they're just cartoons."

I guess they wanted to find a different way to reuse the characters, and they never made any "Space Jam" sequels (so far), even though they wanted to.

Maybe if there's a New Coke-style backlash they'll learn their lesson. At least "Tiny Toons" were nieces and nephews and were in the tradition of the original shorts: funny, wisecracking, surreal, filled with smart pop culture references, and could be enjoyed by adults and kids on different levels. "Animaniacs" I actually liked even better, but you could enjoy them without having to think of the old Looney Tunes masterpieces.

The Looney Tunes as Batman/the Dark Knight-style superheroes? That's a worse idea than the "Happy Days" gang as time travelling adventurers, or relaunching the Lone Ranger (twice) after the Western had died especially after it had died as entertainment for kids.

[AndyC]

Yaddo 42 wrote:
> That's a worse idea than the "Happy Days" gang as time
> travelling adventurers

Ha! I was just thinking that this reminded me of the late 70s, when practically anything could be perverted into the most ill-conceived kids' programming imaginable. If the Harlem Globetrotters can be superheroes, why not Bugs Bunny? I'm kidding, of course.

Funny how updating characters often involves making them edgy, evil-looking and full of "attitude," and sticking them in over-the-top action-packed adventures. I don't want to think about what that says about today's kids.

I doubt this show will last long, anyway. The edgy, futuristic superhero thing didn't work particularly well for any of the actual superheroes it's been tried on (at least on TV). I can't see it working on Looney Toons. Besides, the drawing is crappy. With the exception of Taz, the characters pretty much all look alike.

What these people fail to recognize is that these characters have entertained us for decades because there is something enduring about them. They need very little updating, and in making sweeping changes like this, these people are creating characters that are doomed to become dated in a few years, even if they are initially successful. Original Bugs will still be entertaining 20 years from now, when people are looking back on Buzz Bunny the way we look at the kinder, gentler Tom & Jerry of the 70s.

Keep in mind that Tiny Toons, which was actually a good show (probably one of the few clever cartoons to come out of the fad of making juvenile versions of characters), only lasted a couple of years, and is already a distant memory. This piece of crap hasn't got a snowball's chance in Hell.

[raj]

Yaddo 42 wrote:

> That's a worse idea than the "Happy Days" gang as time
> travelling adventurers, or relaunching the Lone Ranger (twice)
> after the Western had died especially after it had died as
> entertainment for kids.

Time travelling Happy Days?  Hmm.  Get me the script department!  This will be bigger than "Marry my Dad".

[AndyC]

raj wrote:
> Time travelling Happy Days?  Hmm.  Get me the script
> department!  This will be bigger than "Marry my Dad".

It was done, it pains me to say.

[raj]

It was?  damn, I missed it.

[AndyC]

Saturday morning cartoon. I believe it was called Fonzie and the Happy Days Gang or some such thing. In addition to the regular cast of voices, it had a bumbling dog in a leather jacket (because it was the rule for cartoons at the time), and Didi Conn as the flaky futuristic chick (named Cupcake if memory serves) who grabbed Richie, Fonzie, Ralph and Potsie from 1957 and was bouncing from one time period to another, trying to get them home. Strange but true.

Of course, if it were made today, it would be called Happy Days Extreme, and Fonzie and the boys would be fighting street gangs, mobsters and gruesome aliens.



Post Edited (02-21-05 12:15)