This Is The Funny, and You Are The Joke.

[athelind]

Loonatics Promo Film

Am I the only one who sees this as deliberate satire? Not just the usual lame superhero parody, but a satire of exactly the sort of trends everyone is railing against?

I mean, come on. They're color-coded like the Power Rangers. They're sleek and stylized like the Justice League or Samurai Jack. They're Grim and Gritty like the new TMNT cartoon (a "desecration" of the goofy '80s toon that was in turn a "desecration" of the original Grim and Gritty comic).

Does anyone else remember that the idea of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was also a deliberate parody of then-current comic book trends? Does anyone else remember that the original Looney Tune characters were parodies of the sweet, saccharine fuzzy animals of Harmen and Ising?

Yes, sure, it might suck. But if it does, it won't be because it's "desecrating beloved childhood icons".

Everyone's talking about how they miss The Funny -- and nobody's getting the joke.

Which is the funniest part of the whole thing.

Comments

[trpeal.livejournal.com]

When everything is taken at face value, irony and satire cannot exist.

[jonasbagel.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I don't think WB intends it to be a joke. I think they themselves are taking this seriously -- and only inadvertantly producing satire. So if the joke's on us, it's just as much on them. ;P

I'm pretty sure that this is gonna be crap, now that I've seen the preview. XD

[stalbon.livejournal.com]

Doing things in a new way, or taking things in a new direction in comics and cartoons is not always desecration or even homage. Sometimes it's cashing in, sometimes it's a trendy new idea in and of itself. This, I can't really say what I think of, but I'm not optimistic. The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, while horribly mangling a good deal of the plot lines, at least removes the wackiness of the old one, and it can be enjoyable. Look at Batman Beyond, which was incredible, in my opinion. Justice League is pretty much Superfriends redone and with a big facelift, and it's enjoyable as well. However, those are aimed at an older group of kids, or even adults who recall the older cartoons. This new show has been preceded by a great deal many others spoofing or playing off the Looney Tunes license, and it's probably aimed at a younger audience, so the question is: who cares? It'll fail if the writing proves horrible, or for any other number of reasons, or it may live out its time and be considered a success, such as Tiny Toons was. As it is, however, most cartoons these days rarely live longer than two seasons, whether planned or not. The only exception seems to be Power Rangers, and that's only because they keep redoing the damn storyline as if we're all possessing the attention span of a gnat.

[jirris-midvale.livejournal.com]

Athe, Furries, as a rule, don't get irony when it appears in an online format.

[dracana.livejournal.com]

Geez, to call it crap is to put it lightly. I've seen better stuff on the web.

[tombfyre.livejournal.com]

Meh, I just think it looks crappy. To hell with any "destruction" of my childhood or some crap. I mean, the loony toons and whatnot arn't exactly mine to hold sway over. They can do with it as they please, doesn't mean I have to watch it. ^^

[shavastak.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I think it looks kinda cool. Could it possibly be serious with THOSE characters in it? C'mon!

And anything with Daffy in it is almost automatically satirical, if only of him. I'll watch it and see, even if nobody else does. :)

[richardf8]

I totally agree with you, Athe, this is satire of the Superhero Genre.

I think that Purists would do well to remember that this is hardly new territory for the Looney Tunes characters - how many times did the original shorts parody the Film Noir that was so poular in the 40's, whether we're talking about Daffy in a trenchcoar and fedora, or Bugs' Bogart impersonations? Lots.

The problem, I think, is that they have a premise worthy of maybe a 5 minute short, or even a single 30 minute episode, but this is going to wear thin fast. That promo probably used up about half of the material the premise is good for. I don't think it will last more than a season. I mean, who's our supervillain gonna be? An Elmer Fudd/Marvin the Martian derived evil Genius? Good for a few yuks, but not a series.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Dunno about a few yuks....
are they playing this for laughs?
Need to see a few shows rather than a preview.

[jirris-midvale.livejournal.com]

Unintentionally it will be quite hallarious.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Ahhh. Just been watching some shorts from the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Pt 2.

"What's Opera Doc?"....
Them was the days

[breimh.livejournal.com]

I see the WB doing both satire and "cashing in" at the same time. They're jumping on the superhero bandwagon, now that The Incredibles has done so well. We have the Teen Titans, Justice League, Batman and Superman animated series, and Batman Beyond (which if you look, is much the style of this new Loonatics series) as well as myriad others.

So yeah, it's poking fun, and it's also just another ploy to appease the short-attention mentality we see in so many kids today... that's developed over the last decade... with the latest fad.

I plan to give the show a try, see if they're really funny or not. Maybe after 3 or 4 episodes, I'll be able to make a truely informed opinion.