Animation Conversation

[D'Snowth]

Wow, I can't believe I actually remember that! Jack the Knife, Staring Herring . . . I don't remember where and when I saw this before, I just know that I did.

 

[Drtooth]

I was lookin' through the wondrous television archive that is Youtube, and I happened upon several 60s cartoons that I had never heard of. One of them was "Beany and Cecil", created by Bob Clampett, who is best known for directing several Looney Tunes shorts from the 1930s and 40s.

The wild thing is, this show predated Muppet Babies for a couple decades to be the first cartoon series based on a puppet show. Back in the 50's, puppet shows were the surrogate cartoon program. As that Sam Singer thing can attest to. Beany and Cecil is based off the puppet series Time for Beany:

So, if you didn't get the joke on the Pinky and the Brain episode "Puppet Rulers," the entire episode is just to be one big inside joke goof on Bob Clampett, down to the line "If I could come up with any ideas, I wouldn't be a puppeteer."

And of course John K would be behind a reboot of a Bob Clampett cartoon series. There's more depth to the story of why it was canned so quickly, and it's the usual John K-isms. Battles with the network, the show going over budget...that sort of thing. He didn't quite have the creative freedom he thought he would. You can see little cracks of his style escaping, but being shoved back in line with the network. And the thing is, he left production of Mighty Mouse: the New Adventures for this. And the staff of that show managed to sneak a subtle reference to this in the second season episode where Mighty Mouse gets trapped in the television. Beany and Cecil with swapped sizes pops up as a single frame while the kid's flipping through the channels.

But then you look at Crusader Rabbit, the very first televised cartoon, and there's a great deal more effort to it compared to Sam Singer's stuff. There's actual backgrounds, for one, and a great deal of wit to it that would make its way to the co-creator's next show, Rocky & Bullwinkle.

Sam Singer's stuff was meant to be cheap. Crusader Rabbit had signs of what was to come with Rocky and Bullwinkle, but still had that early TV show feel to it. It was of course better done on every level than the Pelican "cartoon". Jay and his crew were one of the founders of why 1960's animation was such a breakthrough for television animation, right along side Hanna Barbera. Things happened fast in that decade. And it ended with some really bat*&^$ insane super hero action shows, including a Fantastic Four series ripped straight from the bat*&^$ insane comics at the time.

Then the parental groups formed, the 70's happened.... ick.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

The wild thing is, this show predated Muppet Babies for a couple decades to be the first cartoon series based on a puppet show. Back in the 50's, puppet shows were the surrogate cartoon program. As that Sam Singer thing can attest to. Beany and Cecil is based off the puppet series Time for Beany:

So, if you didn't get the joke on the Pinky and the Brain episode "Puppet Rulers," the entire episode is just to be one big inside joke goof on Bob Clampett, down to the line "If I could come up with any ideas, I wouldn't be a puppeteer."

I guess that makes sense as to why the cartoon version of Beany looks and moves like a puppet.

Y'know, When watching the cartoon version, for some reason I was immediately reminded of that episode of The Powerpuff Girls, when Mojo had to babysit the girls and they watched that "Blarney the Dinosaur" show.

 

[Drtooth]

I guess that makes sense as to why the cartoon version of Beany looks and moves like a puppet.

Cecil, you mean.

Yeah, I remember by local Fox station rerunning Beany and Cecil Sunday mornings when I was younger. I was really into the show too. I think I was broken up that the ABC new series ended quickly. It's very much a product of the early 60's. Kinda has that early 1950's Mad magazine when it was a comic vibe to it. Think I even rented the VHS at a local video store back then as well. Really helped me fill up on episodes I'd otherwise have missed because they weren't shown.

 

[Drtooth]

Here's something for the old sitcom fan. A half hour version of the rare Mini-Munsters TV "movie"/pilot.

I have to admit, it's a step up from most of those kinds of shows in the 70's that wanted to be a ripoff of Archie or Scooby-Doo (often by the same companies that produced those shows). While I'd love to have seen an animated version of the Munsters, considering we got two Addams Family cartoons, I really think the concept of pawning off the hipster cousins instead of focusing on the core Munster Family just wastes the concept. It comes off as that awful Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm series (while, frankly not as bad) but with Munsters instead of Flintstones. If this were to have gone to series, that's exactly what you could have expected. The 1 dimensional beatnik cousins and Eddie and their ghost chauffeur that doesn't really do much (at least in the half hour version, I can see lots of his scenes from the full hour being cut).

On the bright note, I really like that funky animation Fred Calvert's studio provided, giving it a distinctive look to make it rise up against Filmation and Hanna Barbera at the time. Maybe a bit like Depatie Freling, but just bouncy enough to be its own thing. They did manage to get Al Lewis back, so some great stuff with Grandpa here. Don't see why the original Herman didn't come back, whoever's playing him doesn't quite have it.

But all and all, not bad, but it doesn't rise beyond almost having potential. Though with the other sitcoms getting animated cartoons that decade, I'd hardly say it's the worst or even completely random and not in the tone of the original. But HARDLY as good as either ALF cartoon.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Until recently, I had never actually seen Milton the Monster. I'd seen pictures of the characters for a while but I didn't know the name of it nor had I watched it.
The series lasted from 1966 to 1968 and was created by Hal Seeger, the creator of Batfink. It's quite underrated in my opinion.

I really like these 60s cartoons. Somehow, the fact that most of them were super cheap and somewhat poorly drawn actually adds a bit of a charm to them. This particular show reminds me of old cereal mascots.

 

[Drtooth]

You know why I always give cartoons made in the 70's such a hard time? That. That reason exactly. I LOVE cartoons from the 60's. A huge HB and jay Ward fan would automatically have to, but there's just something magical and yet batcrap insane about cartoons from that era. Discounting the crappy Looney Tunes shorts we got out of it, of course. HB was at its prime, Jay Ward was throwing out more show ideas than they could actually sell, super hero cartoons were violent and unhinged, and these tiny little start ups were filling up Krusty the Klown type shows and Saturday Morning's infancy. What a time for animation. They more than made up for the animation quality with clever writing and wacky characters. There was a distinct style of humor in 60's cartoons that separated them from the theatrical animation of a couple decades prior.

Then parental groups happened and the popularity of Scooby-Doo and The Archies (of which Scooby-Doo was a knockoff of, and more so in its inception) that lead to bland, lousy, and just plain unlikable unless you grew up in that decade shows. And frankly, I can't throw the entire 70's out the window, nor can I say there weren't some sucky cartoons in the 60's. Still, there was a movement caused by both Action for Children's Television and Network execs that held cartoons back for a good 2 decades. You can see the frustration and annoyance from certain types who worked on cartoons like that in Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures coming to a glorious head before that burst onto Nickelodeon in 1990.

But yeah, I love stuff like Milton the Monster and Roger Ramjet. The quirky little lesser known cartoons from lesser known studios.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I just discovered this Hanna Barbera show (Gosh, they had a lot of shows. I can see why the animators hated their job.) it's called The Roman Holidays. It essentially seems to be The Flinstones except they live in ancient Rome, their kids are teenagers, and instead of a pet dinosaur they have a pet lion:

 

[mr3urious]

Yeah, TRH is a pretty forgettable show, essentially The Flintstones with an Ancient Roman coat of paint (and interestingly, that's what The Flintstones was supposed to be at one time). But at least it had a great theme song, which was what H-B was usually good at.

 

[Oscarfan]

If HB wasn't ripping off another well-known idea, they were ripping off themselves.