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[Roger]

I really dug on Ducktales back in like 3rd grade.

Duck Tales was cool because it drew a lot from classic Carl Barks stuff. Not that I was aware of it when I was 13.

There are some Mickey/Donald/Goofy shorts from the '30s that are actually pretty good, like the one with the trailer road trip, and that other where Mickey is spraying bugs in his garden and ends up tripping on pesticide... Pretty virtuosic animation, at least.

We have to keep in mind that these cartoons, as well as the classic WB ones were made for movie theaters, and not necessarily aimed at children. H-B, on the other hand, were made in the TV era, with short deadlines and budgets, like V mentioned. That made them a lot poorer, technically speaking. It's just recently that I realized why every H-B character wore a collar or a tie of some sort, even those who didn't have any other clothes on: just to separate their heads from their bodies, so the animators could work only on their faces while keeping all the rest motionless.

[AugustWest]

It's just recently that I realized why every H-B character wore a collar or a tie of some sort, even those who didn't have any other clothes on: just to separate their heads from their bodies, so the animators could work only on their faces while keeping all the rest motionless.

Say, I think you've got something there.  A can for you sir.

[AugustWest]

Since we're talking old-skool animation, how about some love for Bullwinkle?  (and to a lesser extent, Tennessee Tuxedo and/or Underdog).  Great writing, lousy animation.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Very possibly here. I'm not a high level CortJstr type, though. Someone else might get something better.

There's Bensington Butters, sure, but what about "The Syndicate" specifically?

[Doc]

The first I remember hearing of the syndicate was a week or two ago when they were all deciding on their new gimmicks.

And WB pwns all, this is obvious. I don't think Disney is funny but I don't think most of it is meant to be on. HB on the other hand I don't find funny even though it is desperately trying to be. Even as a kid I never got why people liked the flinstones (or the jetsons for that matter since it's basically the same gag).

I only have vague memories of ducktales but I have a perfect recollection of darkwing duck, that was awesome. You know disney had some weird spin offs, anyone remember tailspin? How did we go from rudyard kipling jungle adventures to running a bar and plane charter service? That's a leap.

[CortJstr]

They had a run in the late 80's and early 90's of good half-hour cartoons, often with repurposed characters. DuckTales, Tailspin, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck come first to mind.

I also remember and episode of a show I rarely watched, Bonkers I think, starting off with a funny gag. The two main characters are in space, slowly spinning away from the camera, making faces as if they're yelling. The narrator comes in, "In space, no one can hear you scream...............But that would make for a very boring cartoon." And then the screaming characters cut in.

[theinevitable]

Ducktails, Tailspin, etc. were brilliant television. I worshipped those shows.

[Doc]

Was who shot roger rabbit a disney one? It seemed like there were characters from all the studios in there, or at least WB and Disney (can't remember any HB), like when Lex Luthor and Superman joined forces to fight Christopher Lloyd.

[CortJstr]

Was who shot roger rabbit a disney one? It seemed like there were characters from all the studios in there, or at least WB and Disney (can't remember any HB), like when Lex Luthor and Superman joined forces to fight Christopher Lloyd.

According to IMDB, yes:

"Since the movie was being made by Disney, Warner Brothers would only allow the use of their biggest toon star, Bugs Bunny, if he got an equal amount of screen time as Disney's biggest star, Mickey penis. Because of this, both characters are always together in frame when on the screen."

[colmore]

Disney was an amazing studio up until shortly after Fantasia came out, tanked, and Walt slipped into his bitter old man "well I guess America doesn't want art" phase.

Walt Disney revived American animation in the 1920s.  After initial experiments by artists like Windsor McKay, film animation had slid into increadibly cheap cut-and-paste spinoffs of popular newspaper cartoons.  (Rent the DVD of animated Krazy Kat to see some of the crap we're talking about).  Animation was seen as a low-priority means of appeasing children.  It wasn't until talking cinema that a second motive for budgeting for cartoons appeared: selling records.

Most studios were associated with record companies, and those old, weird bendy-armed sing-a-long animations from the 20s and 30s (Ub Iwerk's being the best and weirdest of that genre -- f.y.i. he did most of the cartoons that appear as clips on Pee Wee) were pretty much music videos; the 78s of animation music were big hits.  It was in that climate that Disney started reviving the full painted-cell artform of animation.

Here's Skeleton Dance on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb_WYxgh-_g

Which has links to other Silly Symphonies (the early musical Disney shorts) - definitely check out The Old Mill too, he invented a bunch of stuff to do the multi-layer backgrounds for that, it's amazing looking.

Then he put out Snow White, which you should really really rent and watch on a good TV.  It's a painting.

Aaaaanyway, I loved that in the late 80s, kids' TV showed all of this old crap all of the time.  As a little kid I really liked black and white stuff better than new things, and now in my old rickety 20s, I geek out about it.

So yeah, historically, Disney tears H-B a new one.  (And since Onstad has already shown a taste for old blues and an affection for Vaudeville, I imagine he's thinking somewhat along these lines).  But yeah, for humorous content and sharp writing, Warner Brothers is the king, and they and Fleischer Studios probably outrank Disney for sheer 20th-century-animation-awesomeness.

</nerd>

[AugustWest]

I don't think anybody questions the quality of Disney's animation/visuals/art.  The old movies are head and shoulders over anything else, no question. 

But it doesn't have teh funnay.

[colmore]

Sorry to ping the tired thread, but I felt this was apropos:

http://www.fortunecity.de/lindenpark/foto/597/03.html

-- a run of 1930 mickey penis newspaper strips in which mickey tries to kill himself a few times.

[Doc]

Is So good indeed.

That one where he is reaching for the shotgun in the last panel practically IS achewood.

[theinevitable]

good lord.