Muppet Babies: Puppets vs. Cartoon

[Drtooth]

Classic WB Bugs Bunny cartoons were made on shoestring budgets and in many cases very limited frame rates and they seemed to hit it out of the park nearly every time. I long for the days of Chuck Jones and US animation production studios.

Yes, but things were really different then. Warner Bros and studios like that dealt with 7 minute cartoons theatrically released. They did not have the same weekly deadlines, and they didn't have to make about 13- 60 episodes per year. Television animation wasn't even a possibility until the early 50's. There were "Cartoons" but they were mostly just black and white drawings narrated. Still frames. Nothing more. Crusader Rabbit was the first to really have any animation at all, and it was mostly made up of those stills.

Outsourcing animation is NOTHING new. It didn't start in the 80's at all. You can thank Jay Ward, who heard about a new movement of overseas outsourced animation. Oddly enough Rocky and Bullwinkle was going to be animated in Japan, but the studio they were going to use was nothing more than chalk lines in a vacant lot. The money from the contract was going to be used to build the studio. They went with a Mexican firm instead, and it's animation was outright horrible to begin with. Mainly due to the low quality of the studio's equiptment. This was Gamma Studios, whose animation didn't even improve until Bullwinkle was a distant Memory, and they were working on Underdog (not a creation of Jay Ward).

The first Japanese outsourced cartoon series was King Kong- produced for Rakin Bass, by the way. Another creation of Toei.

When it comes right doen to it, I just don't think ANY TV cartoon can live up to great stuff from the theatrical Golden Age. Doesn't matter which country animates it. Though I do think Spumco did some great stuff in the 90's.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I voted for the cartoon. I mean, we ultimately ended up seeing more of it and what it could do. The puppets were great, but it was just a one time thing.

I think the cartoon was a wonderful show, very creative, witty and innovative in its use of pop culture and cultural references, and combining cartoon with video. Very few shows have yet to do it as well.

I know some fans don't like the show because people use it as evidence that the Muppets are just for kids. But I don't care what people say, they are wrong. I won't let them get in the way of my appreciating a decent show.

 

[wiley207]

Yes, but things were really different then. Warner Bros and studios like that dealt with 7 minute cartoons theatrically released. They did not have the same weekly deadlines, and they didn't have to make about 13- 60 episodes per year. Television animation wasn't even a possibility until the early 50's. There were "Cartoons" but they were mostly just black and white drawings narrated. Still frames. Nothing more. Crusader Rabbit was the first to really have any animation at all, and it was mostly made up of those stills.

Outsourcing animation is NOTHING new. It didn't start in the 80's at all. You can thank Jay Ward, who heard about a new movement of overseas outsourced animation. Oddly enough Rocky and Bullwinkle was going to be animated in Japan, but the studio they were going to use was nothing more than chalk lines in a vacant lot. The money from the contract was going to be used to build the studio. They went with a Mexican firm instead, and it's animation was outright horrible to begin with. Mainly due to the low quality of the studio's equiptment. This was Gamma Studios, whose animation didn't even improve until Bullwinkle was a distant Memory, and they were working on Underdog (not a creation of Jay Ward).

The first Japanese outsourced cartoon series was King Kong- produced for Rakin Bass, by the way. Another creation of Toei.

When it comes right doen to it, I just don't think ANY TV cartoon can live up to great stuff from the theatrical Golden Age. Doesn't matter which country animates it. Though I do think Spumco did some great stuff in the 90's.

Spumco's animation was really good, too. It was practically done in full animation!

I know that many of DiC's cartoons in the 1980s and some in the 1990s were outsourced to Japan. Usually it was Tokyo Movie Shinsha, like on "Inspector Gadget," "Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats," "The Littles," "The Real Ghostbusters," "The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" and a few others. Some like "Captain Planet" weren't done by TMS, but obviously appear to be animated in Japan. At least TMS knew how to do quality animation, and that is rare for an overseas animation studio!

Even Hanna-Barbera got into the overseas game in 1971. "The Funky Phantom" was done by Hanna-Barbera Australia (which would soon become Southern Star Productions, the studio that did "Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue"). Soon in the 1980s, many of their shows were done by usually Wang Film Productions or Cuckoo's Nest Studios, both in Taiwan. Some of the 1980s H-B action cartoons like "Sky Commanders" were animated by Toei, resulting in a very un-H-B -like animation style.

 

[Redsonga]

The way I see it if they had had the money for it they would have used the puppets but since they did'nt that is more than okay
I loved the muppet babies cartoon and it was the muppets to me. I had seen the Muppet movie, SS muppets were not 'muppets' to me, and the Muppet Show was before my time and never shown on tv. So I loved the Muppet Babies cartoon and all the toys that were made of them...
To be honest I never knew about the 'muppet baby' puppets until a couple of years ago

 

[dwayne1115]

I gusse it really never crossed my mind that there would be people who would only know the Muppets from the Mupet babies.

 

[Redsonga]

I gusse it really never crossed my mind that there would be people who would only know the Muppets from the Mupet babies.

I think I saw the word 'muppet' and Kermit as two different things...I saw Muppet Babies more often than any of the movies, and SS was not a 'muppet' show to me. As far as I knew Kermit only visited for some odd reason .
And we did'nt have cable so I never saw AMFC

 

[frogboy4]

I gusse it really never crossed my mind that there would be people who would only know the Muppets from the Mupet babies.

That happens all too often these days with the under 25 set. Sure, they grew up with the internet and cellphones (smaller than a brick) but Muppet Babies were their main window into the Muppet world. At least it kept the brand alive and stirred the imagination.

 

[Redsonga]

That happens all too often these days with the under 25 set. Sure, they grew up with the internet and cellphones (smaller than a brick) but Muppet Babies were their main window into the Muppet world. At least it kept the brand alive and stirred the imagination.

It was'nt my only window but like I said I didn't get to see the muppet show up until it was on the DVD sets and anything other than the Muppet Movie, Muppets at Disneyworld, and the Muppet Caper up until around when MTI was made so yeah...
I live in the middle of nowhere so Muppet Babies was love to me

 

[CensoredAlso]

That happens all too often these days...

Yeah but liking Muppet Babies didn't stop me from liking other Muppet things. And some people talk about the show like it was Barney or something. It was FAR from that.

I mean more people complain about Muppet Babies than Elmo's World. Like it's OK to enjoy Elmo's World, but if you like Muppet Babies, you're not a real Muppets fan. Personally, that makes no sense to me.

 

[Redsonga]

I know, it was really smart actually A good afternoon cartoon