Western Animation - Discuss American, Canadian, and European cartoons here (or just bitch about wokeshit, I guess)

[Blindrainbow]

The Justice Lords were far more compelling than the Crime Syndicate of Amerika from the comics. Well-meaning people forming an effective autocracy is much scarier than "evil versions of the main cast".

I haven't really readied much super hero dc comics, but I do agree Justice Lord are the best version of the evil counter part cliché from the sheer fact of being not outright evil and actually being close to their counterparts. Like the main different being that the Justice Lords were willing to cross the line that main Justice League ain't.

 

[Linako 2.0]

You see this shit?
This is what super heros are. the modern day titans and bringers of justice!
this got me hyped back then and it still does now.

 

[Trilby]

I see someone leaked this just now. Apparently they sat on this one for a good long time now and never thought to get it out at all (would've fit in well with "The Lego Movie" last year)...

I can never trust this studio at all!

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

There's a terrific film from 1971 called Shinbone Alley, based on a flop musical based on the works of columnist Don Marquis. Not many people know about it, but it's pretty fucking good - and Lord knows a film like this could have never been made at any other time but then.

Here's one sequence, where Archy the cockroach declares war on humanity in this tribute to the great George Herriman, who illustrated the original Archy poems:

And here's John Carradine's big number, showing somewhat better singing ability than in "Night Train to Mundo Fine." He plays a theater cat who likes to complain about how its glory is dying and the new generation of actors just hasn't got it:

 

[Overcast]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is airing its final episode this Sunday. I'm not sure if I'm gonna watch it.

I thought that show ended years ago.

Man, I remember watching that show a ton as a kid.

 

[Trilby]

There's a terrific film from 1971 called Shinbone Alley, based on a flop musical based on the works of columnist Don Marquis. Not many people know about it, but it's pretty fucking good - and Lord knows a film like this could have never been made at any other time but then.

Here's one sequence, where Archy the cockroach declares war on humanity in this tribute to the great George Herriman, who illustrated the original Archy poems:

And here's John Carradine's big number, showing somewhat better singing ability than in "Night Train to Mundo Fine." He plays a theater cat who likes to complain about how its glory is dying and the new generation of actors just hasn't got it:

From the director best known perhaps for animating the opening to "Grease".

As a kid, I use to like watching this TV special he worked on. More of that cartoony animal stuff, but he did get his start doing that in the 40's.

I thought that show ended years ago.

Man, I remember watching that show a ton as a kid.

Well, they managed to keep that boat chugging away as they did.

 

[Abethedemon]

Any fans of Thundarr the Barbarian? I feel like it's held up well.

 

[Trilby]

Thinking about John Wilson again reminded me of my favorite of British studios, Halas & Batchelor, these two shorts in particular left quite an impression on me when I was 4...

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

Speaking of Halas and Batchelor, I enjoy their adaptation of Animal Farm. Sure, you can rant that it doesn't keep the original ending, but it does - it just goes on further to show what happens after the animals realize nothing has changed.

And here's something I discovered recently... this short is very UPA-influenced, and was probably produced around the same time as them, showing that their techniques were well-known even overseas:

 

[Trilby]

Speaking of Halas and Batchelor, I enjoy their adaptation of Animal Farm. Sure, you can rant that it doesn't keep the original ending, but it does - it just goes on further to show what happens after the animals realize nothing has changed.

That's one way to view the ending here. It's a sort of "What next" kind of thing, since Orwell chose to left it before that point.

In all fairness, Halas felt he made a powerful film and in some way, that ending has happened to those countries of the former Soviet Bloc like his native Hungary (he at least lived to see the end of that).

And here's something I discovered recently... this short is very UPA-influenced, and was probably produced around the same time as them, showing that their techniques were well-known even overseas:

I enjoyed these. This was actually produced around 1964 and was based on the cartoons of the late musician/satirist Gerard Hoffnung (who passed away sadly before the 60's, so he never lived to see The Beatles). There were other episodes in this series. Nickelodeon used to play one of these back in the 80's I loved seeing called "Professor Yaya's Memoirs". Please mind the crappy copy here as it's slightly out of sync I noticed.

Here's a better copy of another episode.

Here's a more interesting one featuring Peter Sellers...

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

Very, very interesting stuff.

On another note - who remembers this, one of the funniest things to ever come out of Nickelodeon?

 

[Trilby]

I do. Seeing that always reminds me of this classic (which Nick also played)...

Going even more obscure, back when Nick had on shows like "Weinerville" and "Cartoon Kablooey", this was one of the more interesting shorts they use to stick on to fill time.

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

I would rate this as one of the greatest pieces of American animation ever made, if not the greatest:

Simply look at it and you will realize why it is art. The imagination in its surrealism. The fluidity of its animation. And, most importantly, the great Cab Calloway singing his theme song.

Snow-White and The Old Man of the Mountain are equally as good. And, if you can get past the racial stereotyping, I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You, the only film that can boast the floating head of Louis Armstrong.

 

[Trilby]

I would rate this as one of the greatest pieces of American animation ever made, if not the greatest:

Simply look at it and you will realize why it is art. The imagination in its surrealism. The fluidity of its animation. And, most importantly, the great Cab Calloway singing his theme song.

Snow-White and The Old Man of the Mountain are equally as good. And, if you can get past the racial stereotyping, I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You, the only film that can boast the floating head of Louis Armstrong.

All excellent examples of the Fleischer Studios' best.

 

[Linako 2.0]

I was having one of the songs of an old cartoon stuck in me head the other day.
sadly I don't have the DvDs of the cartoons I had, so I had to look it up. lo and behold, I found it.

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

Who remembers this show? It used to air on Nicktoons Network on the weekends back in '06, when they had reruns of Rocko and the Angry Beavers every weekday morning... and weird original shows from overseas. There was Corneil and Bernie, The Secret Show, and there was this - my favorite of the bunch:

At one point the whole show, including the episodes that never aired in America, was available on YouTube for free - but now it seems you have to pay to watch them. Oh well; at least they're available freely elsewhere on the Net.

Also - I don't know how many of you admire the great Disney director/trombonist Ward Kimball. But professional butthead Amid Amidi has a Tumblr site dedicated to him, one of the few good things he ever did. (The other being his Cartoon Modern book, a good look at the modernist animation styles of the 50s.)

Still, the buttheadedness shines through as he posts some of the stuff that Disney wanted to take out of his biography of Ward, such as this photo of him in a T-shirt:

http://wardkimball.tumblr.com/post/59024206056/shhhdont-tell-disney-about-the-shirt-ward-is

 

[Trilby]

Who remembers this show? It used to air on Nicktoons Network on the weekends back in '06, when they had reruns of Rocko and the Angry Beavers every weekday morning... and weird original shows from overseas. There was Corneil and Bernie, The Secret Show, and there was this - my favorite of the bunch:

At one point the whole show, including the episodes that never aired in America, was available on YouTube for free - but now it seems you have to pay to watch them. Oh well; at least they're available freely elsewhere on the Net.

There's that. We Americans ought to be grateful we can still watch it at all when it's available to us than to go out of our way like certain people do within the anime community.

Also - I don't know how many of you admire the great Disney director/trombonist Ward Kimball.

Which shouldn't be questioned, but we have to keep reminding ourselves there's always new people coming into this at all.

But professional butthead Amid Amidi

Thanks!

has a Tumblr site dedicated to him, one of the few good things he ever did. (The other being his Cartoon Modern book, a good look at the modernist animation styles of the 50s.)

I see he has't updated that Tumblr in 8 months, but that's alright, that stuff isn't going anywhere.

Still, the buttheadedness shines through as he posts some of the stuff that Disney wanted to take out of his biography of Ward, such as this photo of him in a T-shirt:

http://wardkimball.tumblr.com/post/59024206056/shhhdont-tell-disney-about-the-shirt-ward-is

This is my favorite...
https://sneed-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/27/36/0b/27360b16ae7a47c8c02bd8b2554ba5c2.jpg

Then there's this, not animated but Ward did it anyway...

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

Which shouldn't be questioned, but we have to keep reminding ourselves there's always new people coming into this at all.


Thanks!


I see he has't updated that Tumblr in 8 months, but that's alright, that stuff isn't going anywhere.


This is my favorite...
https://sneed-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/27/36/0b/27360b16ae7a47c8c02bd8b2554ba5c2.jpg

Then there's this, not animated but Ward did it anyway...

Ward was apparently quite a character. I know some people who knew him and man, the stories they have...

He told Robert Crumb that Walt loved butt jokes; he said if you watch Pinocchio, there's a butt joke every two minutes.

 

[Trilby]

Ward was apparently quite a character. I know some people who knew him and man, the stories they have...

He told Robert Crumb that Walt loved butt jokes; he said if you watch Pinocchio, there's a butt joke every two minutes.

I noticed that at an early age.

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

I fervently believe that these were the three best shows to come out of Cartoon Network:

No. 1:

No. 2:

No. 3: (especially the Kirk Tingblad episodes)

No. 4 is I Am Weasel and No. 5 is Courage the Cowardly Dog.

And as an added bonus, here is a video that will once and for all prove why Charlie Adler is the greatest voice actor who ever lived: