"The Looney Tunes Show" premieres May 3, 2011

[GonzoLeaper]

http://www.cinematical.com/2010/04/24/the-looney-tunes-return-again/
I just ran across this today. New Looney Tunes cartoon on Cartoon Network this fall? Wow- that would be cool. Not sure I'm crazy about the design, judging from that shot though. It'd be really fun if they just ran the original Looney Tunes shorts in theaters in front of movies again like they used to back in the day.

 

[Drtooth]

I don't like how "computer generated to look like hand drawn" sounds. Seems like cheap cost cutting Flash in all its flat and staccato moving glory. Unless they use the same techniques that made Fosters look GOOD. I'd rather see Korean digital animation like a real cartoon in this day and age should look. Something tells me that they lack enough faith to spend that kind of cash to make it look like a cartoon, and not a 5 minute internet video.

But I really think that what WB has let happen to animation since 2005 is EPIC FAIL . Sure, I know Looney Tunes BIA flopped due to horrible decisions to focus on the human cast members, and killing the best possible parts of the movie (the opening was SUPPOSED to have a self satire of their failure to launch Batman movies until Batman Begins)... but Loonatics? Really? That's not even close to what "anime" is or looks like, and they managed to turn it into a fail generic action show. If it was an action comedy, the tune of Freakazoid... it WOULD have worked. But WB didn't stop there... there was also the TERRIBLE Spongebob Squarepants the Coconut knockoff that to this day I'm shocked and dismayed that Nickelodeon didn't seek legal action over. The last straw was selling their highly profitable Saturday morning programming to 4Kids (the ONLY taker), which just tore the animation industry asunder, killing Spectacular Spider-Man's chances of being the next big thing.

Seems now they want to try to get them back so they can sell that lousy Marvin the Martian movie. I can only hope these cartoons are at least HALF as good as Taz-Mania, Duck Dodgers, or Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. THOSE shows updated the characters withOUT ruining them to play to imaginary demographics. They weren't as great as the theatricals, but what is? They still were great.

 

[frogboy4]

This still photo looks good. It doesn't look like computer animation with "toon shaders" to me. It looks like hand drawn animation inked and painted by computers to give it a clean but classic look. I hope that's what they mean. I'm liking this. Let's see if the actual animation quality and writing can match this inspirational pitch.

 

[Drtooth]

It's subtle, but it definitely looks like it could be flash. I just hope they have full fluid movements and just don't cheapen everything with motion tween shortcuts.

Still... I really liked the pseudo-Bob Clampett character designs they used for a while around the time of BIA... really wish they stuck with that a while longer.

Of course, with the exception of Loonatics (which, technically is a next generation show) the worst designs are the toothless pseudo-Freling post 1960's designs they used in merchandise far into the 80's.... UGH UGH UGH! I kinda like the designs used for that photo still, though. And I hope they have a consistent LT voice cast.

 

[frogboy4]

It's subtle, but it definitely looks like it could be flash. I just hope they have full fluid movements and just don't cheapen everything with motion tween shortcuts.

Still... I really liked the pseudo-Bob Clampett character designs they used for a while around the time of BIA... really wish they stuck with that a while longer.

Of course, with the exception of Loonatics (which, technically is a next generation show) the worst designs are the toothless pseudo-Freling post 1960's designs they used in merchandise far into the 80's.... UGH UGH UGH! I kinda like the designs used for that photo still, though. And I hope they have a consistent LT voice cast.

I'm a Flash artist and don't really see this as a Flash animation. Plus, there's no magic feature for in between drawings. There are tweens for small shape motions and ways to create sections in a form to puppeteer it, but Flash animation is pretty much a traditional animation technique. Also, any choppiness is caused by one's video card, bandwidth or the exported settings. This is an example of Flash animation.

(I get a little touchy about Flash topics because there’s a campaign by Apple to give it a bad reputation. Many companies use the format to provide free content that Steve Jobs wants people to pay for through iTunes instead. He basically wants to kill Hulu.)

There are many techniques used to ink and paint animation that give this clean and simple look of Flash animation, but it's really not. It's funny that Flash has become a style that transcends the actual format.

I too am not a fan of Freling's LT designs. I'm more of a Jones/Avery/Clampett guy.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm a Flash artist and don't really see this as a Flash animation. Plus, there's no magic feature for in between drawings. There are tweens for small shape motions and ways to create sections in a form to puppeteer it, but Flash animation is pretty much a traditional animation technique. Also, any choppiness is caused by one's video card, bandwidth or the exported settings. This is an example of Flash animation.

I was referring to the jump in television animated programs that use flash, or a similar program... a small sampling of them would include:

Mucha Lucha (the first one to use it)
Martha Speaks
Jacob Two-Two
Word Girl
The Mr. Men Show
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Skunk Fu...


Now, that list represents ones that I feel either over come the handy cap, or use the computer to assist more complex animation (Fosters SHOWS how Flash type programs SHOULD be used). There are ones that are quite dreadful and look very lazy, but I can't name any of them right now... thing Aqua Teen Hunger Force only with LESS animation. There's a lot of that spreading around... and while the shows I listed manage to look good, the ones that don't look like crude internet cartoons that last for a half hour. Of course, for the record, I think Skunk Fu has beautiful computer animation, but the show itself is just completely awful.

But all and all, I prefer digital color and paint with hand drawn as full as it can get animation (your Batmans, your Spongebobs, your Chowders...etc). There's something that bugs me about head turns and the fact that they have libraries of poses... it reminds me of Filmation, and the only Filmation shows that worked relied heavily on dialogue.


Somehow, Flash animated Looney tunes just come off like This

I too am not a fan of Freling's LT designs. I'm more of a Jones/Avery/Clampett guy.

If I had my way, all LT merchandise would look like Chuck Jones's style. I can't say I dislike Freling's earlier works, but that bland stule they gave them for coloring books and comics back in the day is just ugly to look at now. I really did like the 90's rebirth look... especially Neo-Taz.

 

[frogboy4]

I was referring to the jump in television animated programs that use flash, or a similar program... a small sampling of them would include:

Mucha Lucha (the first one to use it)
Martha Speaks
Jacob Two-Two
Word Girl
The Mr. Men Show
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Skunk Fu...


Now, that list represents ones that I feel either over come the handy cap, or use the computer to assist more complex animation (Fosters SHOWS how Flash type programs SHOULD be used). There are ones that are quite dreadful and look very lazy, but I can't name any of them right now... thing Aqua Teen Hunger Force only with LESS animation. There's a lot of that spreading around... and while the shows I listed manage to look good, the ones that don't look like crude internet cartoons that last for a half hour. Of course, for the record, I think Skunk Fu has beautiful computer animation, but the show itself is just completely awful.

But all and all, I prefer digital color and paint with hand drawn as full as it can get animation (your Batmans, your Spongebobs, your Chowders...etc). There's something that bugs me about head turns and the fact that they have libraries of poses... it reminds me of Filmation, and the only Filmation shows that worked relied heavily on dialogue.


Somehow, Flash animated Looney tunes just come off like This



If I had my way, all LT merchandise would look like Chuck Jones's style. I can't say I dislike Freling's earlier works, but that bland stule they gave them for coloring books and comics back in the day is just ugly to look at now. I really did like the 90's rebirth look... especially Neo-Taz.

I get what you're saying. Very little of that is actually in Flash because that program wouldn't allow for enough nuance on a larger scale. But they're definitely after that look. I think the E-Surance commercials used to be done in Flash. Usually one can tell by the consistent line width in the inked portions. I too hope that this LT show stays away from that particular look.

I prefer Chuck Jones too. Actually got to meet the man at one of his gallery shows when I was a teenager. His talent never faded. Frelings, well...I'm amazed they used this late 80's serigraph for the cover of his book. Tweety has a glandular problem there! Still, he's the guy who gave us the Pink Panther. I wish they'd find a classy way to bring that back.

 

[dmoss]

Whoa! Too cool; this looks like something to keep an eye out for! Let's introduce the next generation to Bugs and Daffy!

 

[Drtooth]

But I have to take the preemptive strike and say this...

I absolutely hate when people ruin any new LT project (reasonable ones that capture their actual spirit... not LU or Baby LT) by whining about how it doesn't hold up to the originals. Honestly? Of course they don't, but they can still be enjoyable. I mean, I find Duck Dodgers the most underrated cartoon of the past decade. It took the same characters and hipped them up withOUT having to design them like what an out of touch 50 year old guy thinks is "anime" (basically Pokemon or 5 minutes of Dragon Ball Z- which is like saying every American Cartoon is like Double Dragon the Animated series). I mean, you look at DD, and they had some very Family Guy/ Simpsons-esque humor in it. In fact, a lot of it was quite adult. Like the episode where a female cadet replaces Porky and Duck Dodgers says "I'm developing feelings towards eager young space cadet... Is that wrong?"

I find Taz-Mania and Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries to be very good as well, taking the characters out of their element, but NOT taking the elements out of the characters. Heck, I gotta say, the 1990's Jim Cummings Tazmanian Devil entertained me more than his few cartoons in the actual series. They gave him a subtlety, like he was uncivilized, but he wasn't evil. he just liked to eat stuff... and it turns out, he's basically a giant toddler.

And even the newer theatricals they made for the brief period of time before they realized that BIA was going to bomb... they weren't as funny as the old ones, sure... but they were still pretty good. Did you know they made a Theatrical Duck Dodgers cartoon with a cameo by Dr. Zoidberg of Futurama? Other than the fact they had the inconsistency of LT voice actors (Still don't see why Joe Alasky isn't Daffy and Sylvester's constant... he does a great job with them), these were pretty good. No Chuck Jones or Bob Clampett, but I've come to accept that. I don't think ANYTHING is as good as the old cartoons... maybe not even early Disney movies, and especially those color Fleischer shorts that were good to look at, but cloyingly sweet to watch. And don't get me started on the lame Jack Frost... Even in a class of older cartoons they stood out.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Of the various Looney Tunes cartoons, while I will always love the original shorts, I also have enjoyed most of the different series based on it. But I think Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs (okay, that one's only kind of related) and TazMania are my favorites.