Toonheads

[Avaitor]

I used to love this show. It was a great collection of classics on top of useful informative facts about them that was just a highlight from the classic CN age. I've been hoping to find some episodes of this for a while, but no dice.

The closest I have to one is how on the first Looney Tunes Golden Collection has a double-length episode containing a bunch of various Looney Tunes shorts, promotional pieces and other pieces not seen very often due to their obscurity. It contains a lot of stuff from a couple of Bugs Bunny cameos in live-action movies to an animated interstitial used in a 30's western film produced by Leon Schlesinger to a hybrid pilot worked on by Warner animated directed by Richard Donner. It's a great find with a lot of bonus stuff that you wouldn't find anywhere else before the DVDs came out, at least without knowing a good bootlegger or two.

That's a good one, but I want to find the more traditional episodes, which show a couple of classic cartoons in a theme and add some information to them. I found two episodes tonight out of luck, and I'm going to share both of them with you along with my thoughts on them. I'll try to not repeat information in here and let you watch these episodes for yourself.

Here's the first, for Ralph Phillips.

I've always liked the two shorts starring Ralph. He reminds me of a younger Walter Mitty, or for a more apt comparison, me around that age. I think a lot of kids can relate to Ralph, since most of us had an overactive imagination and loved the idea of fiction overtaking reality.

These shorts were a lot more sedative than the Looney Tunes cartoons around that time, but I think that's part of their charm, and show Chuck Jones' softer side. It's always been there, like if you see Jones' earlier cartoons, which were paced a little more like Disney's Silly Symphonys than the Looneys. Chuck didn't start making really funny cartoons until around the early 40's and made stuff like that for a little, and while his work became progressively funnier and darker (need I remind you of "Chow Hound"?), he never exactly lost that touch. The Ralph Phillips cartoons are nostalgic and inviting, not really what you'd expect for a Warner cartoon, but all the less fun to watch.

Now the third short, "A Waggily Tale", I'm not so familiar with. I honestly don't remember seeing it that much back in the day, and haven't watched it in years. It fits in here, even if Junior's fantasy isn't as inventive as Ralph's and is a little too structured. I don't think it works as well for older viewers as it does for kids Junior's age, but there's some good here. I like the authentic 50's look, and the little girl trying to clean Junior off as a dog is funny. Not to mention that the ending comes out of nowhere and is worth a laugh itself.

I'll post the next one later and keep an eye out for more of these if I can. Hope you guys enjoy watching Toonheads as much as I do.

[Foggle]

I used to watch this show religiously. There were only, like, 20 episodes, right?

[Avaitor]

I think there's a few more than that. At least, I hope so.

Anyway, here's the second, all about the Tazmanian Devil.

I've never cared for Taz. maybe it's because his first cartoon was made during McKimson's weaker years, but he doesn't have much in the way of personality even then, so I doubt that I would like him more if he was made earlier. His cartoons are also a little too predictable and redundant for me, as well as highly overplayed.

Watching "Devil May Hare" on here again, there is some good. A couple of the gaps are very funny, but it doesn't have the replay value a bunch of other Bugs shorts have. I think the lack of chemistry or personality Taz has with Bugs opposed to Elmer and Sam is what kills it a little. He's just hungry, that's about it. Not all that funny.

Now "Ducking the Devil" is a little different. I don't think it's one of Daffy's highlights, but I like how he uses music to fend off Taz as opposed to using his hunger or stupidity against him. It's a strategy that Bugs probably wouldn't use, and is a little more clever than something you'd expect from him. This is also not a great short, but I get a little more out of it than some of the others.

I think comparing "Devil May Hare" to "Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare" in terms of animation is striking, and shows how the studio progressed in the ten years since the first short was made. It just looks so bland and cheaply done. The Warner cartoons were never big budget affairs, but at this point, the theatrical shorts market was just about done. Why make fully-animated short subject cartoons for theaters when you could make cartoons done with limited animation on TV for cheaper? The few studios still doing cartoons for theaters cut down their budgets, so we got more shorts like this.

It also contains a major aspect I dislike about later-day Bugs shorts- Bugs not being able to shut up. Maybe it's just the weaker scripts, but Mel seemed to be losing steam while voicing the rabbit. Despite that, it's cheaper to have characters speak than go around and do things, so Bugs ends up talking a lot more than he should. While he used to be a lot more likable when he spoke in the classics, giving Bugs too many lines seems to hurt the character a little, and he becomes less likable in the end. This short is no exception.

There is one thing I like here though, and it's how neither Bugs nor Taz get a very good ending. I like seeing Bugs win as much as the next guy, but occasionally it's fun to see him lose every once in a while, and it works in its context here.

Well, those are the only two eps I can find on YouTube for now. I'll keep an eye out for more as well and share them if I can. You guys catching and watching these as I post them?

[RacattackForce]

I loved this show. Watched it every Sunday night when it was still on.

[Daxdiv]

I thought it was a very informative series. One episode that always pops into mind for me is the one about Cat Concerto/Rhapsody Rabbit controversy, which showed both cartoons and Sweetie Pie, since IIRC, the show said that was the cartoon that won an award the following year after the whole CC/RR thing. That and the wartime cartoon special. It was nice to see how the cartoons were shaped into propaganda for the US, and how they can't air certain cartoons anymore.  I'll give both of these a watch later.

As for a list of episodes, our good friends over at GAC provided us with a list of all the different ToonHeads episodes they made.