New Looney Tunes shorts on HBO Max

He's dethpickable.

 

This looks very intriguing, although I am more partial to the Chuck Jones style than the Bob Clampett style of animation for these characters, not that both of them don't have their charms. I am hoping that both of their styles are incorporated, not to mention Bob McKimson and Friz Freleng. I would hope to see homage to all of them.

Also, I wonder if this might coincide with making all of the old shorts available for streaming.

 

That new voice guy is not too shabby. His Daffy sounds like vintage Mel Blanc to my ears.

Visually these toons don't look quite the same as the golden oldies, but they're definitely in the same spirit.

I say "bring it on."

 

I don't think it looks hand draw like the old cartoons. everything looks neat and compressed. the old ones had more fluidity and stretch.

 

Agreed. There's no doubt in my mind that it's computer animated with some drawings used as the building blocks.

The old cartoons had that special magic. Unless they're willing to do things the old-school way, it won't actually look the same, though I appreciate the attempts regardless. Those shorts cost anywhere between 500K and a million back then! So I can only imagine how many millions it'd cost to do it in-house today.

 

I don’t know if I’d call it sophisticated...

Be careful what you wish for. We don’t want Adult Swim, Family Guy, or South Park starring Looney Tunes characters. Those are what define adult oriented animation today.

 

In 1944 Elmer Fudd told us in "The Old Grey Hare" that we would get Smellevision in the year 2000.

19 years later, still waiting WB.

 

Bugs Bunny saying "What a maroon" is referencing a misspoken insult that was known to be spoken with the word "m0r0n" by New York street tough kids similar to the Bowery Boys movies of the '40's & '50's. Bugs Bunny deliberately mispronounces the insult, m0ron, as maroon as an inside joke to poke fun at those class of street kid's lack of education that they pronounce the word "m0r0n" incorrectly. That's how I interpreted it and feel is quite sophisticated in its social referencing to a class of people.

 

And yes, I know the shorts from the 30's-50's were aimed at adults and not kids but these days are long over.

 

Then I would really smell the stink instead of just seeing it on modern TV shows.

 

This just made my day! I have loved Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies since I could toddle way back in the mid-60's This looks like it is going to be a great addition to that legacy rather than merely an homage.

 

I agree that the visuals are very promising and hope that the out of character breakneck pacing was just due to this being a promo.

 

Not bad!

 

Is the first WB cartoon to ever show a toilet?

 

Watched the first episode this morning. Very good animation and voice acting! I am impressed. Look forward to checking out more and the new HBO Max service!

This new Looney Tunes seems like a remake done the right way

 

I am going on record here to say that The Looney Tunes Show is up there with Seinfeld and Dick Van Dyke as my favorite sitcom of all time. The reinterpretation of Gossamer, Cecil, Porky, Speedy, Pete, Hazel and Yosemite may have upset some diehards, but IMO they hilariously fleshed out some one dimensional characters. Daffy and Lola stole every scene they were in, the absolute cornerstones of the show. The only bad episode was the one where only the secondary characters were featured. Otherwise I recommend as a point of entry the episode where Bugs loses his patented gloves, the ending is loaded with the bizarre logic that made up the best shorts.

Otherwise I feel the short Looney Tunes made these days try to cram in too much. Sure, you have only 7 minutes, but that was the perfect amount of time for the characters, plot, atmosphere and gags of something like The Abominable Snow Rabbit. Plus these shorts often feel done by committee, whereas the best ones of the past were a team effort lead by an animating genius who managed to put their twisted humor stamp on their shorts despite not animating everything. I want more surrealism, and I don't want a bunch of pratfalls/slapstick with a score that hammers home every single gesture.

How about instead of creating new shorts, releasing ones that continue to be unreleased, like Racketeer Rabbit, or Beanstalk Bunny. The lack of the latter is beyond me.

 

These aren't bad. Not cringe-worthy like that Looney Tunes Show that had things like Elmer and the Grilled Cheese..

But, I can't come to grips with the new productions for nitpicky reasons.

There's an immediacy missing from these new creations. The soundtracks seem too polished, spacious and vintage sound effects tend to get dialed down and sound quite low-fi, if you will. And.. I will if you will.

I hear the punchy mono soundtracks of the original WB shorts as something like:

..with voices and fx all amped up and like, "Whomp!"

And the new cartoons have a more calm feel, more spread out and just a bit on the "cavernous" side. Sorta like: ((((((((((((((((((((((((( ! )))))))))))))))))))))))))

Mel Blanc said a few times that the old cartoons sounded the way they did b/c the audio was set up and recorded quickly during breaks on sound stages where films were being shot. Photos from the era seem to back that up. Maybe that's the element of "immediacy" that is missing for me?

Oh, and Sylvester's thloppy thpeech ithh mothhtly in the front of hith mouthh, like thithh!
There'sch a bit choo much jaw clensching in the charactcherishashion above that addshh choo much Daffy in the mixthth!

Pardon me for protruding.

 

It fit the pace of the music.

 

These aren't bad, but If HBO Max wants me to subscribe, they'll need to offer all of the original Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts, unedited. I have the Boomerang app for this very reason, but not all of the shorts are available, including some of the best ones. Also, the picture quality is uneven. Many appear fully restored, but many look faded/worn. Also, there are the usual old Saturday Morning edits for content.

 

Now, there's a funny thing. ADD animation may go even further back, but the first time I actually noticed the new, break-neck speed animation was in the Disney flick "Aladdin":


They's a lot goin' on there..

 

Here's what's currently available on HBO Max. As far as I can tell, they're all in HD, including some shorts that were previously on Boomerang in subpar quality. Obviously, it's not everything, but it's a much wider selection than I remember Boomerang having.


1930s:
Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! (1931)
Hollywood Capers (1935)
I Haven’t Got a Hat (1935)
The Blow Out (1936)
Alpine Antics (1936)
Porky’s Poultry Plant (1936)
Porky’s Railroad (1937)
Pigs Is Pigs (1937)
She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter (1937)
The Daffy Doc (1938)
Porky’s Poppa (1938)
Now That Summer Is Gone (1938)
The Night Watchman (1938)
Chicken Jitters (1939)
Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939)
Sniffles and the Bookworm (1939)
The Film Fan (1939)

1940:
Patient Porky
Prehistoric Porky
Elmer’s Candid Camera
The Bear’s Tale
Porky’s Poor Fish
Sniffles Takes a Trip
A Gander at Mother Goose
The Egg Collector
Bedtime for Sniffles

1941:
Porky’s Pooch
Tortoise Beats Hare
Toy Trouble
The Trial of Mr. Wolf
Farm Frolics
The Heckling Hare
The Brave Little Bat
Rookie Recue
Sniffles Bells the Cat
Rhapsody in Rivets
Wabbit Twouble

1942:
Eatin’ on the Cuff
Wacky Blackout
Conrad the Sailor
The Wabbit Who Came to Supper
The Wacky Wabbit
The Draft Horse
Hold the Lion, Please
Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
The Hep Cat

1943:
The Aristo-Cat
Pigs in a Polka
Tortoise Wins by a Hare
Super Rabbit
Wackiki Wabbit
A Corny Concerto
Falling Hare
Puss N’ Booty

1944:
Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears
Duck Soup to Nuts
Birdy and the Beast
Buckaroo Bugs
Booby Hatched
The Old Grey Hare

1945:
Draftee Daffy
Fresh Airedale
The Bashful Buzzard

1946:
Baseball Bugs
Holiday for Shoestrings
Hush My Mouse
Hollywood Daffy
Acrobatty Bunny
Rhapsody Rabbit
Roughly Squeaking

1947:
Birth of a Notion
Tweetie Pie
Rabbit Transit
The Up-Standing Sitter
Crowing Pains
Slick Hare

1948:
Dough Ray Me-ow
Odor of the Day
Gorilla My Dreams
Hop, Look and Listen
Buccaneer Bunny
Bugs Bunny Rides Again
Hot Cross Bunny
House Hunting Mice
The Foghorn Leghorn
Back Alley Oproar
The Stupor Salesman
Scaredy Cat

1949:
Bowery Bugs
Daffy Duck Hunt
Often an Orphan
Rabbit Hood
Swallow the Leader
The Windblown Hare
Fast and Furry-ous

1950:
An Egg Scramble
The Hypo-Chondri-Cat
It’s Hummertime
Strife with Father
Home, Tweet Home
Hurdy-Gurdy Hare

1951:
Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Every Monday
Corn Plastered
Fair Haired Hare
Cheese Chasers
Lovelorn Leghorn
A Bear for Punishment

1952:
Feed the Kitty
Fool Coverage
Oily Hare
Operation Rabbit
Rabbit Seasoning
Foxy by Proxy
Carrot Rabbit
Beep, Beep
The Hasty Hare
Hoppy-Go-Lucky
Going! Going! Gosh!
Tree for Two

1953:
Upswept Hare
Forward March Hare
Kiss Me Cat
Duck Amuck
A Peck O’Trouble
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
Robot Rabbit

1954:
Baby Buggy Bunny
Bell Hoppy
Bugs and Thugs
Design for Leaving
Gone Batty
No Barking
Satan’s Waitin’
Dog Pounded
Feline Frame-Up
No Parking Hare
Claws for Alarm
Devil May Dare
Bewitched Bunny
Stop! Look! And Hasten!

1955:
Heir-Conditioned
Hyde and Hare
All Fowled Up
Sandy Claws
The Hole Idea
Ready, Set, Zoom!
Dime to Retire
Two Scent’s Worth
Red Riding Hoodwinked
Roman Legion-Hare
One Froggy Evening

1956:
Broom-Stick Bunny
Raw! Raw! Rooster!
The Unexpected Pest
Weasel Stop
Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z
Stupor Duck
The Slap Hoppy Mouse
A Star Is Bored
The Honey-Mousers

1957:
Birds Anonymous
Ducking the Devil
Fox-Terror
Steal Wool
Scrambled Aches
Go Fly a Kite
Bedeviled Rabbit
Cheese It, the Cat!

1958:
Hook, Line and Stinker
Robin Hood and Daffy
Hare-Way to the Stars

1959:
A Broken Leghorn
The Cat’s Paw
Really Scent

1960:
From Hare to Heir
Goldimouse and the Three Cats
Mouse and Garden

1961:
Birds of a Father
Daffy’s Inn Trouble
Hoppy Daze
The Abominable Snow Rabbit
Beep Prepared

1962:
Bill of Hare
Fish and Slips
Honey’s Money

1963:
Banty Raids
Claws in the Lease
The Million Hare
Now Hear This
Transylvania 6-5000

1964:
False Hare
The Iceman Ducketh
Nuts and Volts
Freudy Cat

1965:
Suppressed Duck
Boulder Wham!
Highway Runnery
Chaser on the Rocks

1966:
Shot and Bothered
Out and Out Rout
The Solid Tin Coyote
Clippety Clobbered
Sugar and Spies

Other:
The Duxorcist (1987)
Chariots of Fur (1994)
Superior Duck (1996)
Duck Dodgers in Attack of the Drones (2005)