Will Looney Tunes ever find success again?

[minor muppetz]

It would be nice too if there was some consistency with the voice actors, which there hasn't been since the days of Mel Blanc.

I thought I saw somebody recently say that there seems to be consistency now. They might have just been speculating.

Mark Evanier has said on his site that the reason there hasn't been consistency since the days of Mel Blanc is because none of the executives can agree on who can sound the most like the characters, and also because Warner doesn't want to have to pay the voice actors too much money (in Blanc's later decade he got more and more expensive to employ). Hmm, suddenly I wonder if June Foray is like that, considering she still voices Granny in new productions.

 

[D'Snowth]

One example I can think of is Tweety: I thought Bob Bergen sounded a whole lot more like him than the late Joe Alaskey - not that I don't like Joe, but I feel like he was better as certain other characters like Yosemite Sam or Sylvester - his Tweety, to me, just sounded a little too deep. I loved him as Plucky though.

Jeff Bergman is actually a stellar mimic of a majority of the Looney Tunes, if Bugs's 51st 1/2 birthday spectacular is any evidence of that:

Then again, Billy West also does a pretty good Bugs . . . Elmer, surprisingly, not so much.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Hmm, suddenly I wonder if June Foray is like that, considering she still voices Granny in new productions.

June is probably much easier to pay, because she pretty much just does the one character.

One example I can think of is Tweety: I thought Bob Bergen sounded a whole lot more like him than the late Joe Alaskey - not that I don't like Joe, but I feel like he was better as certain other characters like Yosemite Sam or Sylvester - his Tweety, to me, just sounded a little too deep. I loved him as Plucky though.

Jeff Bergman is actually a stellar mimic of a majority of the Looney Tunes, if Bugs's 51st 1/2 birthday spectacular is any evidence of that:

Then again, Billy West also does a pretty good Bugs . . . Elmer, surprisingly, not so much.

Jeff Bergman was a great Bugs back in the day, but he can't seem to do the voice quite as well anymore. As for Elmer, I actually disagree, I think Billy West sounded closer to the original voice (Arthur Q Bryan) than any of the other recasts, even more so than Mel Blanc:
Here's a compilation of all the voices if anyone wants to compare:
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/voice-compare/Looney-Tunes/Elmer-Fudd

Meanwhile, Daffy has had like 8 different voices and almost all of them have been spot on - although, I do agree with you, Joe Alaskey's voice was a little too deep for both Daffy and Tweety. But his Yosemite Sam is by far the closest to Mel's.

 

[mr3urious]

I really think Maurice LaMarche has been the best Yosemite Sam, if only because he has a knack for voicing hotheads. Ditto Jim Cummings as Taz, along with Rob Paulsen and Jess Harnell as the Goofy Gophers.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Jeff Bergman was a great Bugs back in the day, but he can't seem to do the voice quite as well anymore. As for Elmer, I actually disagree, I think Billy West sounded closer to the original voice (Arthur Q Bryan) than any of the other recasts, even more so than Mel Blanc:

I don't know. As I mentioned back on the Toonzone Forum's, the trouble with Billy's Elmer is sometimes it sounds more like Hal Smith's Elmer than Arthur Q. Bryans. (Ex: On the "Kwazy Kwistmas" CD when he sang "O Christmas Tree.") But just my opinion.

 

[minor muppetz]

I think Jeff Bergman was originally going to be the permanent recast for Mel Blanc until he went around saying that he was the next Mel Blanc, to which he got fired or at least hired less (I think I've read that he has done the voices since then, I think he even did Bugs Bunny's voice in one of the Family Guy parodies though that wouldn't count). I don't entirely remember what I read about it. I think I saw a post on the Golden Age Cartoons forum where somebody specualted that the Warners people agreed with him and then worried that he'd ask for more raises like Mel Blanc did, and let him go/decided to not have one permanent recast for each character.

Or maybe they did plan all along to not have one official recast and they just happened to have him do the voices for so many projects that he felt he was the next Mel Blanc. I've read that people expected Mel's son, Noel, to take over the voices, which he has for a handful of projects (including Tiny Toon Adventures) but it seems his experience as the characters just scratches the surface of all the recasts. I think Mel Blanc wanted his son to take over but Noel really didn't want to.

 

[Drtooth]

I really think Maurice LaMarche has been the best Yosemite Sam, if only because he has a knack for voicing hotheads. Ditto Jim Cummings as Taz, along with Rob Paulsen and Jess Harnell as the Goofy Gophers.

I've always thought that Jim's Taz was the definitive version of the character, even moreso than Mel himself. And part of that is how he was portrayed in Taz-Mania, with the character giving more range of emotions and broader comedy. Mel's Taz was pretty much a monotone character, outside the slobbery rambling sounds he makes. In Taz-Mania, sure Taz was Taz, but he was also more childlike and capable of more emotions. Still is. Taz was originally just a completely inaccurate depiction of a not well known animal (they're really more like scavengers), and basically just a predator for Bugs.

Anyway, when it comes to characters that I feel were improved in TLS, I forgot to mention those Gophers. The Gophers are my least favorite post-black and white era Looney Tunes characters. I mean, even Cool Cat has an ironic charm about him. If I want to see the humor the Gopher characters were going for, I'd watch a far superior Heckle and Jeckle cartoon. I never thought the characters worked, and their cartoons are the weakest of that time period. But I noticed a mark improvement with the characters in the Duck Dodgers episode "Old MacDodgers," where they were given funny dialogue. And I'm glad that continued into TLS.

 

[D'Snowth]

As I mentioned back on the Toonzone Forum's, the trouble with Billy's Elmer is sometimes it sounds more like Hal Smith's Elmer than Arthur Q. Bryans.

Hal Smith will forever be Otis to me:

 

[mr3urious]

Another recast I'm glad they made was with Joe Dougherty as Porky. He's the one who had a real stutter, and seeing this just feels painful and tedious. It's like that South Park Christmas episode where Jimmy tries to Sing "The 12 Days of Christmas", and it takes about a whole day to do so, making everyone lose their patience.

Mel Blanc took over the role flawlessly by providing a stutter that can easily be controlled, also saving on production costs by shortening recording sessions.

 

[minor muppetz]

Actually, that's something that has always fascinated me about Looney Tunes vs. Mickey Mouse. Looney Tunes was always much more accessible than Disney's cartoons, yet Disney cartoons were always more popular and you'd see their characters on more merchandise despite it. Prior to cable buy outs when syndication actually ran old cartoons, Looney Tunes was a staple.

It also seems like casual fans know the titles of more Disney cartoons than Looney Tunes. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like Steamboat Willie and The Three Little Pigs are known by titles. It would be great to try to determine, between Disney and WB, which one had the higher number of "really iconic shorts". "really iconic" is probably a subjective term, though.

Did Disney have any television packages for the classic Disney shorts before The Disney Channel, whether on local stations or national broadcasts? After the launch of The Disney Channel, it makes sense that Disney wouldn't want them airing on non-Disney stations. I know they were shown on The Mickey Mouse Club, and think some of the shorts were shown on Disney's weekly anthology series, and (while this was after The Disney Channel began, as I was born after) I know I've sometimes seen Disney movies and specials on television with shorts shown with them to fill time (for its first few broadcasts, Winnie the Pooh and Christmas, Too! was shown with a classic Disney short or two, along with a behind the scenes look at their next animated feature). And Mickey's House of Mouse showed some of the classics.