Looney Tunes Cartoons

[Avaitor]

Hopefully surprising no one, the new cartoons are hits.

Of course these are streaming better than Game of Thrones. Who could still be interested in that after how terrible the last few seasons were? It also doesn't help that there aren't many other originals to currently stream yet. It seems like they wanted that Anna Kendrick show to be the headliner, but I have not been hearing great things about that one.

I got around to watching all of the available shorts, and over all, I enjoy them. Some are definitely better than others, and I think how the characters were used matters.

I love seeing Bugs mess with Elmer as much as the next guy, but he is a bit overused thus far. I like having Sam show up a couple of times too, and applaud the return of Gossamer, even if that short wasn't so hot. Still, we should probably see Taz come back to mess with him, or maybe even a new or less-used foe. Giovanni Jones, perhaps? I also don't love Eric Bauza's Bugs a whole lot.

Daffy, meanwhile, was always a treat. I love the return to classic screwball Daffy, and he rarely disappointed here. I even liked the gum short, which I will admit is pretty gross, but still funny. He continues to work well with Porky, and his appearance with Elmer was also fun. I'm not sure if I want to see him team up with Bugs, though, as I'm not sure if this breed of Daffy will work as well with him, but I can handle a selfish Daffy if they pull him off well.

The Sylvester and Tweety shorts were fun, if never spectacular. I just don't like Candi Milo at all, so her Granny does little for me, even if I commend her for going back to Granny's original wiley voice as opposed to June Foray's latter day, more sedate turn. I liked the longer-form Road Runner short better than the shorter one that was shared, but neither were perfect. Part of the problem we tend to have with modern day interpretations of Road Runner and Coyote is that condensing them to just have one or two gags throws off the pacing. And I think that's what made the surprise Sam and Ralph cartoon work so well- it was almost full length, and felt almost just like old times.

I hope we see more lesser-seen characters like them in the next batch, like the Three Bears. I definitely want to see Foghorn show up at some point, and I'm cautiously optimistic for the return of Pepe and Speedy. Another long shot I'd like is the return of Porky and Sylvester together. Those had some real gems.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Something that just came to mind, why don't the LT characters have single voice actors working on them? Ever since Mel Blanc died, most of the characters have been played by a mix of Alaskey, Bergman, Burson, Billy West, and now Eric Bauza playing whoever in whatever. Out of the main cast, Porky's been the only one with an individual actor for the last two decades. Contrast that with the Disney characters. With the rare exception, Donald's been Anselmo for the last three decades. Same with Farmer as Goofy. Mickey's a weird case where Iwan's the main Mickey while Diamantopolous plays him in everything based on the recent shorts.

[Avaitor]

That's a pretty good question, and I don't have an answer. It seemed like Warner was at least sticking to Joe Alaskey as Daffy for a good while before his cancer started affecting him, but that's about it. Even looking it up, there were multiple VAs doing Porky before a while, and they've only had Bergen be his de facto voice for the past 15 or so years.

I have noticed that Candi Milo has recently become the main voice for Granny, after losing June Foray. While I'm not a fan of her work, she does at least try to go back to the character's earlier voice before Foray toned her wiley side down. But even then, it still sounds more like Madame Foster.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I think it limits the incumbent voice actors in a way. Not only do they have to adhere to their predecessors, but to at least four other concurrent actors. It doesn't give them any room to make the character their own the way much of Goofy's modern popularity is because of Bill Farmer injecting his personality into him. And characters like the Looney Tunes cast could benefit from that instead of having a rotating cast of actors take turns for each installment. Like I can't judge whether Bergman's a better Bugs voice than Alaskey or if Bauza's a better voice than him, they all blur together. Which is good for marketing, but doesn't allow any of these actors to really develop their own rendition of Bugs.

Steve Whitmire, the former Kermit performer, mentioned this once as a fear when Disney bought the Muppets. He said the worst thing they could have done is let each Muppet be played by half a dozen performers each instead of individual actors, because he thought that'll dilute their personality.

[Avaitor]

I've asked this question on a group I'm in, and received a few answers. The most notable explanation seems to be that after Noel Blanc had his helicopter accident in the early 90's, Warner decided that they no longer wanted to rely on just one person to do voices for the characters in the case that they'd have to start from scratch again. Another reason seems to be that they want to prevent repeating how Mel held the studio by the balls for the majority of his career, and not let any VA have that much control.

I also learned that apparently, Tony Anselmo doesn't voice Donald in the Mickey and the Roadsters cartoon.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I understand from a business standpoint, but from a creative one?

[Avaitor]

I understand from a business standpoint, but from a creative one?

I can see it both ways. Most of the modern VAs do tend to offer something a little different to the characters from each other, like how Eric Bauza has a little more push than Jeff Bergman, which is why the former makes more sense for the new shorts, as opposed to the latter being a slightly better fit for TLTS. For voice casters and show runners, having those options can be beneficial.

But it can be confusing for kids, like how Barney in the Flintstones/WWE movie went for Mel Blanc's original take on the character, as opposed to the Art Carney impression he's better associated with.

[Dr. Insomniac]

It can be beneficial, but there's still the understudy nature of it all that doesn't feel right. I haven't noticed that little more push when watching the recent LT shorts. Maybe because it's hard to differentiate what Alaskey offered to Bugs compared to what Bergman gave, and what Bauza does, or West. I still think rotating the actors limits them from giving their all. Almost like when Roger Craig Smith or Troy Baker play Batman in various cartoons or games, but they sound too much like Kevin Conroy that it's difficult to sense any of their own performance. Compared to how different Bader's version is in Brave and the Bold and Harley Quinn.

[Daikun]

A new short premiered at Comic-Con.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkyR9HDGmVY&t=20m

Also, today is Bugs Bunny's 80th birthday. Here's what they made for it.

[Daikun]

Season two!

[Avaitor]

Cool, but when is the rest of season one going to drop?

[Daikun]

Whenever HBO Max plans on dropping it.

[Daikun]

Christmas special drops December 3.

[Daikun]

Season 2 is now up.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Every reveal for Space Jam 2 is purely bewildering. Don Cheadle kidnapping LeBron's son because he wants his Instagram followers? Banished Bugs? All the random crossovers with movies like Casablanca and The Matrix?