Saturday Morning Cartoons - The Bruce Timm Rises

It was like Bat-Christmas this week (Bat-mas?), when a brand new Bruce Timm-directed Batman short was aired on Cartoon Network called 'Strange Days'. Released in celebration of 75 Years Of Batman, this 3-minute cartoon from the co-creator of the retro-styled Batman: The Animated Series, throws it back even further with 1940's inspired action featuring one of Batman's oldest villains, Dr. Hugo Strange.

'Strange Days' is a Bat-geek's Bat-dream. For one thing, it features a brief return of a fan-favourite, which we'll get into below. Secondly, nobody directs Batman like Bruce Timm. Stylish, funny, frightening, true-to-form - his work on the Caped Crusader crushes the competition, including every live-action incarnation ever made. It's because he maintains the spirit of the comic book throughout while keeping it current. Some of the best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series are his, including 'The Laughing Fish', 'The Dark Knight's First Night' and 'Heart Of Ice'. He's also illustrated brilliant Batman one-offs and comic books like the excellent "Mad Love". 

But let's go back to this new extremely short short for a second...

'Strange Days' is actually based on a comic book back-story from the very first issue of Batman, in which Dr. Hugo Strange made his second appearance. (his first being in Detective Comics)  In "The Giants Of Dr. Hugo Strange", asylum patients are kidnapped and turned into monsters who attack Gotham City. Batman is of course forced to take action and try to stop them. 

As you can see, the monster from the first comic book panel looks strikingly familiar to the one seen in 'Strange Days'. 

In the comic, Batman is captured and creates a serum to help cure the monsters. (even though he ends up murdering many of them)  In Bruce Timm's short, there is less time for exposition, and Batman just combats the monsters with good ol' fashioned ass-kickery and heavy artillery.

The heavy artillery is a throwback to the comic story, which also showcases Batman's piloting skills. In the comic, he uses real bullets. In the cartoon, he shoots tear gas. (presumably for the safety of the femme fatale) 

Later in the comic version of the story, Batman uses his Bat-Jet for far less heroic means than in the cartoon, including a good ol' fashioned hangin'. (!)

When it comes to the defeat of Dr. Hugo Strange, he meets a watery demise in both versions. In the comic, he's put through a window and disposed of pretty early in the story. 

In the cartoon, his death is more accidental.

This isn't the first time Bruce Timm has incorporated Hugo Strange into his cartoons. In Batman: The Animated Series, Hugo was featured in Season 1's 'The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne'. 

He also made a brief cameo in an episode of Justice League Unlimited called 'The Doomsday Sanction'. 

But this is the first time Hugo's been featured in his more natural, 1940's environment. Even Batman has been redesigned ever-so-slightly to resemble more of the original creation.

"I wanted to make the whole cartoon look as if it was like the cartoon itself was made in 1939," Timm said in an interview with Comics Alliance. "Got stuck in a vault somewhere, and nobody has seen it until now. Not that I thought we were going to pull that kind of hoax, but that was the feel I wanted. I wanted it to be so authentically old school. I went back and looked at those early Bob Kane comics and even though they're really super crude, there's something really cool about the way Batman looks in those comics. He's got the really long ears, they kind of stick out in an inverted "A" shape, or in a "V" shape, on the top of his head because they kind of stick out on an angle. They're really tall. He's got tiny eyes, his trunks are long, his boots are long, he has short little gloves. I tried to incorporate as much of that in there as possible."

Timm also revealed why his new (and preferred) treatment of the character could have affected the film's running time.

"I have this idea in my head that it would be kind of neat to play Batman not so much as a human being, but almost as a force of nature," he said. "Like, he's so focused on his mission that he doesn't make chit chat. He's not friendly. He doesn't make jokes. He only talks when he absolutely has to do so to further his war on crime.

"Obviously you couldn't do that as a series. It's really hard to empathize with a character who is that remote. But I thought I could do it as a short, and fortunately for me, Cartoon Network was doing these DC Nation shorts. My good buddy Peter Girardi is in charge of development for the DC Nation shorts, and I pitched the idea to him and he said, "that sounds great". We were off to the races." 

In many ways, this could be Bruce Timm's purest form of Batman ever produced, if the origins are any indication.

"I was at the premiere of The Dark Knight Returns: Part 2 at the Paley Center," he recalls. "One of the reports there asked me, of all the different versions of Batman that I've worked on, through all the DVDs and the series and stuff, which one was my favourite. I said of course, it's the original Batman: The Animated Series, because that's the closest to my own personal vision of Batman. Then I got to thinking, well, you know, even Batman: The Animated Series was not 100% exactly what I would do with Batman if I was "boss of the world" and didn't have to take into account economics or TV executives.

"For example, the look of the show is famously very retro. But if I had my way, I would have made the show a real period piece. I would have set it absolutely in 1939. With 1939 technology, clothes and everything. Not just somewhat retro-styled. That made me think, hey, if I was going to do it in 1939, then that means it would be in black-and-white." 

When asked about voice actors, Timm gave hope that this wouldn't be the last we'd see of Batman, as he sees it. 

Comics Alliance: "Is Kevin Conroy the voice of Batman in this short?"

Bruce: "Yes. He is. It's funny - he's got one line of dialogue."

Comics Alliance: "Wow." 

Bruce: "It's 2 words. He got a very good payday that day for word-to-dollar ratio!"

Comics Alliance: "Did he know that going in? Did he just show up and say, "I've got 2 words?'"

Bruce: "Honestly, we took advantage of Screen Actor Guild rules and recorded another short with him on the same day."

Comics Alliance: "Does that mean there's more coming from you and/or Kevin?" 

Bruce: "Ummmmm...can't say."

HA! Unlike Batman, Bruce Timm has said too much! And I couldn't be happier to hear it! 

PS: Bat-thanks to Jesse Haller for the comic book scans I stole.

Saturday Morning Cartoons - Intro To Traditional Animated Theory In Community

Community is a great friend to comedy and cartoons in general. Once every season, this outstanding NBC sitcom does a "special" episode where the characters are taken from their natural live-action school surroundings and plopped into a meta world of significant pop culture points of interest.

In Season 2, they were stop-motion animated in the style of classic Rankin-Bass holiday specials in 'Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas'.

As you'll learn in the accompanying behind-the-scenes segment, these special episodes have a huge supporter in Dino Stamatopoulis. Dino not only portrays Starburns on the show, but is a driving creative force in the show's production. Thanks to Dino's involvement in other stop-motion series like Moral Orel, they were able to find a great director for that first holiday special. And with Dan Harmon's sense of tone, in a nod to Charles Schulz, it certainly helped to set the show apart from other standard holiday fare.

Continuing this trend in later seasons, the cast of Community was also turned into anime...

8 bit characters...

And puppets...

But perhaps their greatest experiment (so far) was Thursday night's 'G.I. Jeff', written by Dino Stamatopoulis.

The great thing about Community is that it while it's constantly geeking out, it never loses sight of the reality that it's based in. They can give you a spot-on G.I. Joe parody, but still provide a reason to do so. It all fits into the storyline somehow. This is the stroke of uncanny genius that Dan Harmon and the original show-runners (who were absent in the dismal 4th season) are somehow able to weave into each and every episode. They can delve into Dungeons & Dragons, spade The Secret Garden, practice Nicolas Cage impersonations for nearly 22 minutes - but still maintain character and heart.

Let's quickly discuss the balancing act of 'G.I. Jeff'. On the surface, it's a spot-on parody of Sunbow's G.I. Joe series, which ran from 1983-1986. Everything is lovingly re-created - the herky-jerky animation style, the purposeful insertion of grit and colour-fading overlaid throughout, the fake toy commercials leading out of actual commercial breaks. And my favourite bit of all, which brought memories of my critical childhood flooding back - the occasionally terrible lip sync.

The most amazing thing in my mind about this is how official everything is. The G.I. Joe logo is used everywhere, as is the theme song, the sound effects, and some of the original characters. Hasbro, the toy company who reaped the benefits of G.I. Joe for many years, and continues to do so, seems to have been a great sport about Community poking fun at one of its biggest flagships.

"More power to them, because they were very, very gracious with their product", said creator Dan Harmon. "That's really cool too, because you're accustomed in TV that if someone pulls out a Snickers bar, it always says 'Snookers'. So the weird thing is that when you see actual branding like that, it hits your brain like it's revolutionary. Which is dumb, because why should that be?"

It IS dumb, but that's the first thing that struck me. Honestly, if some of these commercials existed in the 80's, I wouldn't have even known it was a joke.

'G.I. Jeff' even makes use of some of the original G.I. Joe voice-cast.

"I went into the VO booth," said creator Dan Harmon, "and the guy that played Flint (Bill Ratner), I didn't even know he was coming in that day and I was getting a NutriBar, and I just heard Flint! 'Get over there! Get to your battle stations!', and I was like, 'Oh my God! Flint is here!'"

Admittedly, this isn't the first time that the voice of Flint was brought back for a cartoon. Family Guy and Robot Chicken did it first, but in far less clever ways.

Not all of the original voice-cast is present in 'G.I. Jeff'. Obviously, the voice of Cobra Commander is an impersonator. Original actor, Chris Latta (who also portrayed Starscream in Transformers) passed away back in 1994. 

The theme song is also sung by a pretty damn good impersonator. In fact, this same impersonator sang an alternate version of the theme song, dedicated to G.I. Jeff's director, Rob Schrab. (click the photo below to hear it)

I feel sorry for Rob Schrab. Apparently, he was stressed and under immense pressure to deliver this, as evidenced by a few of his tweets...

Hopefully, Rob Schrab is still alive. His name sounded familiar when I saw his name on the credits, and I couldn't put my finger on it at the time. But then I saw this...

Rob is the creator of a great comic book called Scud The Disposable Assassin, which I read in the early 90's. Scud made a guest appearance in this background scene. You can also apparently see an issue of Scud in the episode, 'Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'.

Despite what the above tweets would lead you to believe, Rob and Dan are actually good friends. Here's a great piece that Rob did when Dan was fired from Community after Season 3, which was a parody of a famous tribute made after Mel Blanc passed away.

I'm realizing now that if you've never watched Community, this is probably a pretty inaccessible post. But if that's the case, I hope you'll still give Community a chance. I doubt it'll make it to #SixSeasonsAndAMovie, but with your support it could be 0.00000000000000000000001% of a Nielsen rating closer. I'd love to see what kind of cartoon they could skewer next year.

If you'd like to know more about the making of Community's 'G.I. Jeff' episode, there's a brief making-of vignette below. If you don't want to know anymore, that's cool too - but remember, knowing is half the battle.

Saturday Morning Cartoons - March Madness

Let's take a time out this morning to watch some basketball cartoons! On nothin' but 'Net!

First, as is customary with any sports-themed feature, a quick primer on the game is provided by animation's premier athlete, Goofy - with more sports-on-steroids hyperactivity from regular Disney coach Jack Hannah, in 1946's 'Double Dribble'. Lots of fouls in this game.

Lots of fowl in this game.

Lots of foul...language, in this episode of The Boondocks called 'Ballin'.

Here's a slightly-racist (and sexist) 1974 short called 'Basketball Jones', which was a cartoon released in select theatres in front of the Jack Nicholson film, The Last Stand. The song is by Cheech and Chong. You can see them in animated form at the 3:16 mark. You can also see The Beatles at the 3:39 mark. This is kind of an in-joke, as George Harrison actually plays guitar on the song.

Despite what you may think, Ralph Bakshi is not responsible for this clip. A guy named Paul Gruwell is. 

Not sure who plays guitar in Basketball Cats, but he is awe-soooome!

Speaking of Animation Domination, I told you a couple of weeks ago to watch Lucas Bros. Moving Co. Why didn't you listen to me? Well, now's your chance to be a team player again, by clicking the below pic to watch 'Big Head Mike'.

Pretty sure I shouldn't be including anything relating to Harlem Globetrotters in a post about basketball. But figured I've already made a mockery out of the game, so...

Similar to their actual "games", Harlem Globetrotters were always winners on Saturday mornings. Their original Hanna-Barbera series ran from 1970-1972 on CBS, and then re-aired on NBC in a new program called The Go-Go Globetrotters. They also appeared in 3 episodes of The New Scooby Doo Movies.

By 1979 they started to wear out their welcome, once a magical set of lockers turned them into...

How do these shows even get green-lit? If that doesn't put the madness into March (or any month, for that matter) then I don't know what does. 

Sports!

Saturday Morning Cartoons - You're Computer Animated, Charlie Brown!

I remember it plain as day. I'm assuming it was 1980, when Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!) was first released. My mom was trying to convince me to watch a fun kids movie, but I had a crying fit outside of Clear Lake's Park Theatre, because I was concerned there was a fire on the movie poster. I think I was generally scared of fire around that time, and I guess I didn't want to see Charlie Brown in peril like that. Didn't seem like a good time to me. So I had a crying fit, and my mom was suitably embarrassed. 

Fast forward 30 decades, and now I'm scared to watch the new Peanuts film, which just received a teaser trailer last Tuesday. Assuming you've already seen it? 

Peanuts is sacred to Charles M. Schulz fans, so I doubt I'm alone in fearing this. And what if there's a fire in it? (starts crying)

I'm frightened because Peanuts has always only had one voice, and it was the inner anguish and insecurities channelled through Schulz that made it register. His foibles, his longing, his world-view - these were uniquely his own. And it's hard to imagine a group of people trying to copy that. Why would you even want to put yourself through that dysfunction?

Two of the new project writers share Schulz's bloodline - Craig Schulz (Sparky's son) and Bryan Schulz (Sparky's grandson). It's a connection that instills some faith in the project, but if you're like me, you won't believe it until you see it. 

I told my friend, Troy, the other day that Craig's connection to one of the more recent Peanuts TV specials had given me hope. If you haven't watched 2011's Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, you're really missing out. Craig was a co-writer on that project, and it is as close as you could possibly come to a classic Peanuts TV special. It was also probably aided by the fact that much of the storyline was based on material that Sparky had originally written for his comic strip. But what was also jarringly refreshing was the voicework, which hadn't sounded right for many years. And the animation was reminiscent of Bill Melendez's early offerings. 

Bill Melendez is the main reason why I want a moustache, and why I'm so skeptical to see this new Peanuts movie. He set the tone for Charlie Brown, mostly because he had to.

"One thing that helped us in a negative fashion was the terrible budgets", he says in a quote from the excellent book "The Art And Making Of Peanuts Animation". "We were forced to do the best we could within those dumb budgets. Had we started from the very beginning using computers and trying to animate these characters as close to real-life animation as possible, it would have been a disaster."

It's interesting he says that, because computer animation is all about perfection. Craig Schulz in a recent interview with USA Today was commenting on how 3D was finally going to allow us to see Snoopy's fur. Well...I guess it's nice to know there's a reason why we're charged an additional $3 to see the movie, but I still don't think it's necessary. The reason Melendez's work is so perfect is because it's minimalist, like Schulz's comic art. Mind you, kids who'll be watching this won't be comparing it to the comic strip or any other previous incarnation of Peanuts. They'll be comparing it to the CG movies they watched this year. 

I will be very surprised if they can make the animation stand out using CG. All of the Peanuts specials had moments of experimentation - with timing, backgrounds, character design, etc. I doubt we'll see anything quite that abstract in the new movie. 

Some of my favourite parts in the previous Peanuts films are those quick scenes of experimentation. 

Check out this moment from the first Peanuts feature film, A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969), where Snoopy gets very patriotic.

Or how about this unexpectedly artful and educational Beethoven break with Schroeder?

The title sequence from the second Peanuts feature film called Snoopy Come Home (1972) is also inventive.

I've included a link to watch the whole movie below. It's the best of all the feature films in my mind. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, at least fast forward to the 14:30 mark and watch the next 4 1/2 minutes from there. It is the best and funniest Peanuts animation ever made, in which Snoopy is a total jerk and picks fights with Linus and Lucy. Animator Bill Littlejohn, an unsung hero in the pre-2000 Peanuts world, cranks out some incredibly funny drawings - fascinating in the way he can squash and stretch Schulz's style, without losing the basic roots.

Like most cartoons of the time, the animation became more standardized by the time Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977) and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!) came out. Or at least I think it did. There's far too much peril in those movies for me, thanks! (stars crying) But I did manage to muster up the courage to watch this funny tennis sequence in Bon Voyage, which features some interesting background changes.

Snoopy's more manic tendencies were not only enhanced by Bill Melendez's direction, but also by his voice, which was used for both Snoopy and Woodstock in sped up bursts of gibberish or laughter. I was encouraged to read that archived clips of Melendez will be used for both characters in the new Peanuts film. It's a weird series of sounds that you'd think would be easy to replicate, but I guess not. For all of the negative things I say about CG, it's nice that computers will still allow Melendez's character to live on - albeit in a different, hairier, unnecessarily 3-dimensional form. 

Saturday Morning Cartoons - Cool Stories, Bros

Sorry, Rick And Morty. My new favourite grown-up funny picture story is called Lucas Bros. Moving Co.

Kenny and Keith Lucas write for and voice Kenny and Keef (sic) Lucas in this new segment seen on FOX's Animation Domination, airing on Saturday nights. They have a moving company (obvs) and together they get into all sorts of wacky shenanigans. It's a real hoot. And I'm not just saying that because the show seems to run on reefer. It's a genuinely funny, messed-up program!

You may recall me writing about FOX's Animation Domination last year, when it had showcased an equally messed-up segment entitled Axe Cop. This new season features Lucas Bros. Moving Co. in the opening half of the show, and another new cartoon in the latter half called Golan The Insatiable. Golan is okay - kinda okay, but not really. But I guess it's hard to follow up a show as sublime as Lucas Bros.

A lot of Lucas Bros.'s humour comes from the laid-back leads. Their voices comprise at least 50% of why this show is funny. But it also has a weirdly fantastic vision to it, with occasionally trippy and interesting animation (similar in style to another fave of mine, Superjail!), which provides hilarious contrast to the dozy dialogue.

Before we get into the cartoon, you should meet the live-action Lucas Bros. from their Comedy Central show called The Super Late Morning Show With The Lucas Bros.

To temporarily sound like my parents, I'm not a big fan of drug humour. Sorry, did you just yell out "Narc"? Okay, let me explain. I'm not talking about comedy written by drug-addled deadbeats - that's cool. In fact, it's encouraged! No, I'm referring to entertainment that features the glorification of drug use. Rarely is it funny to me, with the exception of 2 out of 3 Harold and Kumars. But there's something sweet and nerdy to Lucas Bros. that stands out. They make sparking up a spliff seem absolutely charming!

Why not toke take in in an episode for yourself and let me know what you think? Click on the pictures to watch. Do not pass. But don't puff either, kids. Stay in school. You could be Governor General one day.

*NOTE: EPISODE 3 ('BEFORE AND AFTER MODELS') IS THE ONLY EPISODE OUT OF 6 NOT REPRESENTED HERE. THE SOURCE FOR IT WAS SKETCHY AND I DIDN'T WANT TO BE TO BLAME IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY SIGNED UP FOR A GAME INVOLVING WIZARDS. AT LEAST NOT UNTIL I FOUND OUT IF YOU WERE EVEN INTO WIZARDS.*


EPISODE 1 - 'DDT'

This observation may prove to be an excellent viewing incentive for many of my friends - The Lucas Bros. LOVE wrestling. Look at some of the posters they have up in their room. Look closely at the end credit logo of their production company. Also, this episode just happens to guest star Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

EPISODE 2 - 'A/C TUNDRA'

This observation may also prove to be an excellent viewing incentive for many of my friends - Jake "The Snake" Roberts appears in this episode too.

EPISODE 4 - 'FREEDOM TOWN'

Jake "The Snake" Roberts ALMOST appears in this episode, but proves unavailable.

EPISODE 5 - 'BEEPER BEEPER'

Finally, a TV program in the new millennium that recognizes Vampire In Brooklyn! I'm embarrassed at how quick I am to laugh at a lousy Eddie Murphy impersonation. 

EPISODE 6 - 'BIG HEAD MIKE'

This last episode (for now) also co-stars Big Snake Jake. 

Oh, snap! That's it? Well, hopefully we'll see more of this series soon. I'm assuming we will. These Bros seem pretty ambitious to me.

Saturday Morning Cartoons - Comic Ballin'

I had mentioned last week, that the 1990's were a dark time for Looney Tunes. Thanks to the success of Space Jam, all of our favourite Warner Bros. characters had become sport franchise shills. But to be fair, there had been evidence of what would be to come 6 years before Space Jam.

In the early 90's, like any boy, I collected sports cards. Except mine had Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Road Runner and Wile. E. Coyote on them. They were called Comic Ball cards, and they were a legitimate creation of a respectable company called Upper Deck. It was a bit left-of-centre for them. In fact, to this day, I'm not sure who their target audience was.

They were baseball cards, written and drawn by Chuck Jones, featuring classic Warner Bros. cartoon characters representing official MLB teams. Every character would wear a cap and jersey with an MLB team logo on it. And they all got together and played baseball, as only the classic Looney Tunes cartoon characters could.

It sounds like an awful idea based on how I've described it. But thanks to Chuck's "looney" sensibilities and creative license, they were actually a pretty fun series that played like a storyboard for a never-before released Chuck Jones cartoon.

The cards were double-sided, so that when placed in sheets, they would read like a comic strip - left to right, front and back. There were also special holographic cards (like every other card series of the 90's) that were the most sought after.

I didn't quite collect the whole series. I'm missing 1 or 2 cards from most of the storylines. But upon looking at them again last week, I realized I had 4 complete stories, and I thought it would be fun to share them with you today. I have to think it must be some of Chuck Jones' least-known artwork. And even lesser known considering the cards were not that popular. Or so I've read.

Still, they were recognized enough to warrant 2 subsequent Comic Ball series after that, along with 1 NFL-themed Comic Bowl. But these later cards featured less skilled, more generic artwork. They were kinda fun as they attempted to go the Space Jam route, by marrying the artwork with photos of sports legends. But it was an awkward idea, and could've been better handled by more legitimate cartoonists.

The later cards were also kind of a rip-off as the cartoon strips were only on one side. The flip side to each card featured Looney Tunes fun-facts on a puzzle piece.

But enough of that crap. Here, for your potential enjoyment, is the World Series of Comic Ball - 4 original stories by Chuck Jones, as depicted in cards 260 thru 357.

The dialogue bubbles are strange and hard to read at times. Chuck was an artist, not a letterer. But they reveal how important language was to Chuck, and how it helped to properly flesh out his creations. You can admit that you were reading the dialogue out loud in a terrible Mel Blanc impersonation, if you want.

Also interesting is Chuck's handling of characters that weren't really his own during the classic days of animation. Sylvester and his son were usually handled by Friz Freleng. But here you can see Chuck filling in his shoes nicely, with the most dialogue-heavy story of the 4 presented. It's also interesting to see his takes on Tweety, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn and Tasmanian Devil, who had usually been left to Freleng and Robert McKimson.

That's Ball Folks!