MeTV Toons

[Avaitor]

So I've been recording a few things from the channel, mostly ignoring the stuff that's easily available like Looney Tunes and Scooby, instead checking out a few toons that are scarcer or I haven't seen in a while. Some thoughts:

-Harveytoons- There's a reason Casper is the only character who has anything close to longevity here, he's a likable enough lead, even if his shorts are predictable- Casper sees someone in trouble, scares away almost everyone in his path except his friend of the day, only for them to fail their way upwards to solving whatever problem is ailing the character. Not very flexible, but it's at least kind of charming, especially the earlier shorts which had more variety and less blocky animation.

Everything else... meh. Little Audrey is justa girl with an irritating laugh (love Mae Questel, but no thank you). Baby Huey is disturbing, they can't decide if he's an overgrown toddler or a permanently brainlocked adult, and his shorts aren't memorable enough to justify either concept. And Herman and Katnip lives up to its reputation- Tom and Jerry without any semblance of wit or charm, instead tripling down on wanton cartoon violence. This is the real inspiration for Itchy and Scratchy btw, but don't take that as a compliment.

UPA- I've never been much of a fan of these cartoons, preferring the more vibrant animation that Disney, Warner and MGM embraced before the studio's influence took over the industry. Seeing some of their originals again, however, does show a team of talented individuals from the big studios wanting to try different things with the medium and not doing a terrible job of it.

Except for Mr. Magoo. I can't stand that guy. It's not even the one-joke concept, two if we're being generous. I can't stand his mumbling.

Histeria!- This was my most curious addition, as this is the forgotten Spielberg/Ruegger project. Never aired outside of Kids WB!, where it had its last broadcast at the start of the millennium, and aside from briefly being a part of AOL's short-lived cartoon package 15 years ago, has been MIA since. I do understand not only why it didn't maintain better than even Freakazoid! and why this kind of show was falling out of fashion- it's just not very funny or memorable. Some of it is charming in how much of a late 90s time capsule it is, like how one episode features extended parodies of both Seinfeld and those golden oldies CD compilations, but that's all been treaded ground for nearly a decade by the time it aired. Tiny Toon repeats were being added to the block when this started airing, and those still felt more fresh than this did.

And I don't think it's very good as a history lesson. The songs aren't as catchy as your average Animaniacs tune, and nearly every attempt to blend fact and humor comes off as trite and preachy. The characters also aren't very good. Father Time is just another tired Frank Welker job, the baby only exists to liven up the stuffy history material with even more dull potty humor, and everyone else is at best a two-dimensional pastiche.

That said, I'm reminded of Kiddington when his namesake shows up. Hope he's doing well.

Speed Racer- I don't really talk about it, but I have a lot of nostalgic attachment to Speed Racer. I might have seen Fox's Totoro dub or one of the Nick Jr shows first, but this is the first anime I distinctly remember watching as a child, to the point that I'd try to sneak up and watch it at 1 am on Cartoon Network when I was a way-too-young age. Maybe that's why I have such strong sleeping issues.

If you best know the show from the Dexter's Lab parody (can't speak about the movie), what you think is true- it's very past-paced and silly, but that's part of the charm. The dub is kind of mockingly bad, yet still kind of watchable even if it feels deliberately primitive compared to a dub today. Frankly, it's just kin of fun to see how absurd the show is and how the children involved are allowed to be in such dangerous action. Like, how old is Trixie and why is she able to own a helicopter pilot's license?

[Dr. Insomniac]

I already mentioned it on Twitter a while ago, but I can't get over how Tobe Hooper based Leatherface off the unintentional subtext he got from Baby Huey. Because yeah, that is a character who's meant to be cute and funny, but misses the mark so hard and becomes creepy to watch.

Don't know if I have a soft spot for Mr. Magoo, or if I just remember the Christmas Carol special.

As for Histeria, yeah. The failings are obvious. It's not particularly funny, and it's not really educational either. But despite all that, it's hard not to feel bad considering this is Ruegger's last big stab before his status at WB severely tumbled. As well as how much edutainment TV's just been a rotting corpse lately, if we're at a point when broadcast stations can just air 30-year-old Captain Planet and Histeria reruns and pretend it's educational enough to be E/I. Makes me miss the idea of WB spending a ton of money on making an educational show, even if it's more for the "idea" than the execution.

I also they're airing fucking Yo, Yogi. And why? Did their catalog of old cartoons dry up already? How much does it cost to buy the Yo, Yogi rights compared to any other cartoon from that era?