I’m still upset about Chuck Jones’ makeover of Bugs Bunny in the early 60’s, which made him look like Tom from the “Tom and Jerry” cartoons of the same era (also produced by Jones). Fritz Freleng produced the quintessential Bugs, in my book.
THE HORROR, THE HORROR: Today’s Wall Street Journal includes a terrifying story about the “extreme makeover” planned for the classic Warner Bros. characters. Excerpts:
“Hoping to breathe new life into its animated Looney Tunes franchise and prop up the WB television network’s slumping Kids’ WB line-up, Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. is planning to launch a new cartoon series this fall based on ‘re-imagined’ versions of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tasmanian Devil, Lola Bunny, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.
“Warner Bros. has created angular, slightly menacing-looking versions of the classic Looney Tunes characters for its new series, dubbed ‘Loonatics’ and set in the year 2772. Names for the new characters haven’t been finalized, but they are likely to be derived from the originals: Buzz Bunny, for example. Each new character retains personality quirks of the original. The new Bugs, for example, will be the natural leader of the Loonatics’ spaceship; the new Daffy will remain confident that he is the one who should be in charge. …
“‘The new series will have the same classic wit and wisdom, but we have to do it more in line with what kids are talking about today,’ says Sander Schwartz, president of Warner Bros. Animation. The plots are action-oriented, filled with chases and fights. Each character possesses a special crime-fighting power.
“Sounds familiar? The format echoes a successful show Warner Bros. launched in 2003 on its WB network and Cartoon Network called ‘Teen Titans,’ about five teenage superheroes. The series, featuring dark, futuristic characters, based on such DC Comics personalities as Robin the Boy Wonder, quickly became a hit. It ranked No. 26 among kids programs for the fourth quarter last year. …
“Given Warner’s mixed track record over the past two decades with the Looney Tunes franchise, advertisers may be wary. Steven Spielberg sparked things up in the early 1990s with ‘Tiny Toons,’ a series in which new characters interacted with the originals. But a 2002 effort, ‘Baby Looney Tunes, ‘has been a dud for the Cartoon Network, where it ended the fourth quarter ranked No. 104 among kids programs.”
It isn’t just advertisers who will be wary.
Check out this AP story lifted from the Wall Street Journal
WB to Update Characters for ‘Loonatics’
AP Wire – Friday, Feb 18, 2005
NEW YORK — Bugs Bunny and his pals are being updated for the future — way in the future.
The WB network will take the famed Looney Tunes characters as models for a new children’s series, “Loonatics,” that will air on Saturday mornings starting this fall.
The characters’ descendants — Buzz Bunny and the like — will be superhero action figures for the cartoon set in the year 2772.
The network’s animators have re-imagined Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Wile E. Coyote as sleek new figures for a modern age.
“We all flipped for it,” David Janollari, president of the Kids’ WB (search), said this week. “We just said, `Wow, what a great way to take the classic Looney Tunes franchise that has been huge with audiences for decades and bring it into the new millennium.'”
Janollari said both boys and girls enjoyed the new action figures in test runs of the show. Their parents may be a little surprised, however.
“I think the legacy is intact,” he said. “If anything, it’s an homage to the legacy instead of a destruction of the legacy.”
Posted Fri Feb 18th, 2005
