Scared Little Boy Emasculates Loonatics

[athelind]

Big Corporation caves to market pressure; Lauded as a "triumph of artistic integrity".

Thanx cargoweasel, rikoshi

Comments

[araquan.livejournal.com]

I feel so... indifferent.

[rikoshi.livejournal.com]

How can you be indifferent? He's fucking EXTREEEEEEEME!

[araquan.livejournal.com]

I feel... Extremely indifferent?

[teaselbone.livejournal.com]

HELL NO!! POT IS FOR PUSSIES!!!

[stalbon.livejournal.com]

I agree on that, as it really doesn't affect too many of us, but did they even give the original show a chance before putting up an outcry? 'Test groups loved it [the show],' said the representative. Couldn't they have let it go for at least a pilot and then put up some argument against it?

[teaselbone.livejournal.com]

Well, hopefully the characters won't be as 'fucked up' but I'm not keeping any kind of hopes up.

[silussa.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if preserving Bugs Bunny as "cuddly" versus "horror movie escapee" qualifies as a triumph of artistic integrity....but I, for one, am glad to see it.

I think Warner Brothers was LOONY to make such a drastic change in an icon of many people's youth. (Not to mention others....does anyone not have pleasureable thoughts of dear old Acme Corp?)

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Three words:
Tiny.
Toon.
Adventures.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

I liked TTA...

[athelind.livejournal.com]

And yet it was still a "drastic change", even a "bastardization" of those selfsame characters.

I'm one of those who thought that LOONATICS looked like it might be amusing, and who thought those initial character designs looked slick and a whole lot more creative than the Barnification of TTA.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

I always thought it an amusing variation on the theme, one in which the creators had the wisdom to not use the original characters in primary roles. Buster was a bunny, but he was rarely seen chomping carrots and had- dare I say it- a far more bubbly demeanor than Bugs ever did. I never saw Buster as a bastardization of Bugs because he wasn't Bugs. Now, some of the TTA characters more closely resembled their Classic WB counterparts (Plucky, Montana, and Dizzy come to mind) but even then I think they were well-enough differentiaed, even if only barely.

I'm one of those who felt indifferent to what I saw of LOONATICS, and who thought that the character designs didn't look terribly original in this day and age. If they'd done this ten years ago, yeah. But now... Eh. It looked to me like the Teen Titans artists had, while in the throes of an existential fit, gotten a hold of the WB crew and set to work on them. Mind you, I'm not saying I thought the look sucked per se. Look matters but so does story and performance- I reserve final judgement until I can see some animation paired with voiceover, and see who these new guys really are. I gave TTA that chance, after all, even after early stills had me doubting. }:>

[rancourt.livejournal.com]

Additionally, they *were* meant to be different characters. I think the primary kneejerk response I've seen with Loonatics is that, possibly due to carelessness on a marketing person's part, there was an underlying suggestion that these characters were *replacing* the classic depictions -- that somehow, these Loonatics were meant to take the place of the original characters in the hearts of a new generation, that perhaps WB didn't plan to continue presenting the classic characterizations anymore.

Perhaps it was indeed paranoia and kneejerk reaction on many people's part, but I think THAT'S the impression -- real, imagined, confused through misleading PR talk, whatever -- that resulted in the backlash against Loonatics.

It's possible to reinvent a classic character successfully. Look at Disney's Eighties/Nineties afternoon stable for examples of this: Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, Talespin, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Quack Pack and House of Mouse all reinvented similarly beloved characters, and for the most part, did so successfully in the public's eyes, by remaining faithful and even reverent toward the elements that fans felt defined these characters.

Buzz Bunny, I suspect, is being met with venomous, closed-minded hatred because, whether or not he's a potentially cool character on his own merits, he's just not Bugs. He's too different, even just from the PR blurb and concept sketch. This is such a departure, such a change, such a scrapping of the elements that made Bugs so beloved, that the public can't accept him purely because he was presented as an incarnation, in some way, of Bugs Bunny.

Had Loonatics featured a few species changes and better-filed-off serial numbers, and been marketed as 'XTREEM SPACE CRITTER NINJA FORCE,' I doubt it would have received much if any press. It was, whether legitimate or not, the idea that 'this is the future of Looney Tunes' that caused the panic attacks.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Funny you should mention those Disney series... I run with both Disney Afternoon Fan and Classic Purist circles, and you should hear some of the things that get said about those shows. };> But then the public generally did accept them. Myself, I liked all of 'em to one degree or another, except for Quack Pack- I think they went a little too far with the Nephews there. And Rescue Rangers had me kind of indifferent- the voices grated on me and I never did like Monty or Gadget (sacrelige in the latter case, I know...) that much. TaleSpin was, in my opinion, the best series they ever did (and I'd say it deserves at least a nomination for best animated series ever made) but it's got a special place on the classicists hitlist- right up there with Goof Troop. I've found, in discussions and debates, that when it comes down to it, the loudest complainers are the ones least likely to have actually sat down and watched a few episodes.

I think you hit on one of the big problems that Loonatics faced though. WB will never again be able to produce a rabbit character without it being compared to Bugs, loathed for being a new twist on Bugs, or decried for not being Bugs at all. It's almost a no-win situation.

[shavastak.livejournal.com]

I don't quite get why there was such an outcry over these characters. Sure the male rabbit looked like Bugs, and was *called* Bugs, but anybody could see these weren't really the same characters...besides, had any of you who were decrying this change actually SEEN the show yet? No. Wasn't there a slim chance it might have been good, or even *funny*?

I think I'm going to go make my own post about this.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Actually, he was called "Buzz" in the material I saw.