“Re: Animation” Archive
Gary Cahall | Re: Animation
In our last episode article, yours truly offered his rather subjective selections for the 25 best animated TV programs of those bygone pre-cable days of the 1950s through the early '80s. Now it's time to check out the top toons of the past quarter-century, when the proliferation of kid-oriented channels and the networks' attempts to follow up on the prime-time success of a certain dysfunctional, yellow-hued family from Springfield (see below) helped give cartoon buffs many memorable moments. As with the list's first half, there are no live-action, stop-motion or puppet series (sorry, Pee-wee's Playhouse), nor do I have any anime entries (still not my cup of tea). And if you're looking for the shows from the Seth MacFarlane universe (Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show), keep looking. The baby and the dog might occasionally be amusing, but if I wanted to see a bunch of non-sequitur, pop culture reference jokes I'd watch The Critic...and that show didn't make the final cut, either. So, starting again at the bottom and working our way up, we have:
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Gary Cahall | Re: Animation
It sure is heartening to know that I'm not the only Ruff and Reddy fan out there. That's the lesson I learned from the responses to last month's article on new DVD collections of 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoons, where I mentioned how my own Saturday morning memories skewed a bit older. Today's younger generations--with 24-hour channels devoted to animation and other kids' programming--may not recognize how good they've got it, because up until about 25 years ago such "sugar-charged supershow" fare was relegated on the three networks to weekend mornings (and, often on local UHF stations, to weekday afternoons after school). In spite of these limited hours--and some pretty limited animation, to boot--many of the shows of that era are still fondly remembered by Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers alike.
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Gary Cahall | Re: Animation
Last week, MovieFanFare introduced a poll asking people to vote for their "favortie classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series." Now, the distinction between "classic" and "modern" can be a tricky one--after all, to those readers 40 and under shows like SuperFriends, Hong Kong Phooey and The Smurfs are old enough to be considered "classic"--but this does show the devotion that each generation has to its Saturday morning TV memories.
Movie buffs know what a godsend the Warner Archive and similar "video-on-demand" services have been to the discerning collector, but there have also been quite a few releases targeting cartoon fans of the 1960s, '70s and '80s. While the "regular" part of the company is busy trumpeting the debut of such deathless animation fare as Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, the CGI/live-action Yogi Bear abomination (yeah, I'm picking on it again). and whatever Pokemon series they're up to these days, the good folks of the Archive division have been busy the last couple of years putting out complete series collections and specials, mostly from the Hanna-Barbera vaults. Some may not have held up with the passage of time--assuming they ever did--but here's a sampling:
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Gary Cahall | Re: Animation
By way of introduction, this is the premiere installment in what I hope will be a regular series of columns discussing the latest animated releases on home video, as well as new titles on the big screen and TV, along with some general thoughts and ramblings about cartoons past and present. As a fiftysomething pop culture junkie whose weeks once revolved around Saturday morning television and who still spends a goodly portion of his free time watching Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney and their affiliated channels, I like to think that I am peculiarly particularly qualified for this project.
The biggest news in theatrical animation recently was a Los Angeles Times article running last week, just before the release of Walt Disney Pictures' 50th cartoon feature, Tangled. In the piece, Disney/Pixar honcho Ed Catmull said that the Rapunzel revamping would, for the time being, be the studio's final foray into the fairy tale/"princess" genre that began over seven decades earlier with its very first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
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Tags: Cartoon TV Series, Cartoons, Top 10 Movie Lists