Animation & Me

My history with animation goes all the way back to childhood.  Like most children of the seventies, I grew up with Disney films and Television.  The Disney shorts were fun when I was younger, but around the age of 8 or 9 they were not really my thing.  The Feature films, I still enjoy most of to this day. I have fond memories of watching various animated shows with my brother, and sometimes with my uncle, Bob.  In the Seventies and Eighties Saturday mornings were king for animated fare.  Also anyone who grew up prior to the eighties remembers that feature Films were preceded by animated shorts. Today that seems to be limited to Disney and Pixar.  In the seventies and prior each studios had its animated stable:  Warner Brothers had the Looney Tunes, Universal had Woody Woodpecker and Chilly Willy, United Artists had The Anteater and the Ant as well as the Pink Panther, MGM had Tom & Jerry, Droopy Dog and Screwy Squirrel, Paramount had Popeye, Betty Boop, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Baby Huey, 20^th Century Fox had Terrytoons, and so on.  By the mid seventies new short were no longer in production like they used to be and by the eighties you rarely saw them at all.  Instead of covering things in a chronological order, I am going to cover things in more a genre or Studio based format.

Warner Brothers: 

Let’s start with a studio whose work I still admire to this day.  Originally Warner Brother was all about the Looney Tunes.  In the Seventies the old short were seen on both network and syndication.  They were everywhere.  These short have always been targeted to a broader audience.  They had jokes that would go right above the heads of kids.  Going back and re-watching them is fun, one finds jokes one did not get when younger.  Even after the production of the shorts slowed down they were still presented on Television.  In the Nineties Warner Brothers started to produce their own animated shows as opposed to repackaging older material.  This started with Tiny Toons and Batman the Animated series.  Now Warner Brothers Animation seems limited to DC Comics properties and Looney Tunes.  With the Batman Animated Series, Warner Brothers started a long string of DC superhero animated shows that led to direct-to-video DC Universe Films. All of these I have been a big fan of.  I have not hidden the fact I prefer DC to Marvel.  The Direct-to-Video films have been targeted to a more mature audience with a PG to PG-13 rating.  Warner Brothers Looney Tunes properties led to Animaniacs, Histeria!, Freakazoid, and Pinky & the Brain. Most of those were produced by Steve Spielberg prior to his starting Dreamworks.  They tried to resurrect the Looney Tunes philosophy with modern sensibilities.  In most cases they were very successful.  As a kid watching the old Looney Tunes shorts I noticed Director and their specific styles: Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Robert McKimson.

Filmation:

As a kid growing up in the Seventies there was one animation studio that was all over Saturday Morning.  That is Filmation; their last big work was He-Man and She-Ra.  For me it started with the 60’s DC Superhero shows, Superman, Aquaman and Batman.  These included the Atom, The Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Superboy and the Teen Titans.  As a DC Comics fan I loved these.  I ate them up, funny thing is they started before I was born.  In the Seventies through syndication quite a few show remained in circulation long after their original air dates.  Filmation did a number of TV and Film adaptations into 30 minute animated shows.  This included Star Trek, Fantastic Voyage, Brady Bunch, Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down, Lassie's Rescue Rangers, My Favorite Martian, The New Adventures of Gilligan, and Gilligan's Planet.  They also did Shazam/ Captain Marvel, Archie, Flash Gordon, Zorro, Tarzan, the Lone Ranger, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and more licensed shows.  They produced a few live-Action kid shows as well, including Shazam.  They tried a few original concepts including their show the Ghostbusters; their version pre-dates the Film by a decade.  Their animation style seems by the early eighties a bit clunky.  The studio was also notorious for re-using certain scenes in multiple episodes, this was not unheard or in other studios.  They seemed to do it more often with more shows.  One of their most famous shows was Fat Albert and the Cosby kids.  The studio went out of business in 1989.  By that time He-Man’s popularity had waned.  Filmation was fun for me because of the Action Adventure shows they produced.  As I got Older their roughness of their animation styles grated against me.

Hanna-Barbera:

Hanna-Barbera Cartoons were everywhere during the Seventies and early Eighties.  When I was little it was the comedy shorts with Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound Snagglepuss, Hong Kong Phooey, Wally Gator, Suiddley Diddley and so on.  Later I got interested in their action shows lick Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, Bird Man, the Herculoids and more.  The big kicker was the introduction of the Super Friends in 1973.  It was Justice League lite, for a 5 year old Superhero and DC Comics fan it was pure gold.  Super Friends lasted till 1986, and yes I watched it till then.  The Hanna-Barbera shows were everywhere in the 60’s and 70’s.  They started to wane in the 80’s.  When they were acquired by Turner Broadcasting in the 90’s they began a resurgence.  They produced new shows for Cartoon network and old shows were re-run there and on Boomerang. By 1999, they became Cartoon Network Studios. Their legacy still shows.

Walter Lantz Productions:

Walter Lantz Studios, later Productions, produced Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and other shorts for Universal Studios. I was never a big fan.  My brother looped the laugh from an old Woody Woodpecker children’s 45 record as a form of torture.  There has been a revival, but the character looks more like his 40’s version.  The Lantz Productions work was good, but I seemed like a pale version of Disney or Looney Tunes. 

DePatie-Freleng Enterprises:

Director/Producer Friz Freleng and executive David H. DePatie started this studio in 1963.  They did quite a few shorts for United Artists including Pink Panther, The Ant and the Aardvark, The Dogfather and MisterJaws.  They did a few Television series and special then sold their studio to Marvel.  The Pink Panther shorts were good, but highly stylized.  They did a few Dr. Seuss specials, I enjoyed them.  Their Marvel Superhero work prior to becoming Marvel was good for its time. 

Marvel Animation:

This section is not one studio but many.  Marvel animated series were produced by several different studios over the years.  Now with their own Film and Television studios, Marvel keeps everything in house.  This is more evident after their Purchase by Disney.  As said before, I am more of a DC Comics fan.  Many of these shows were fun and at the time some of the best on Television.  Spider-man (1967) with its famous song was a great show for its time.  It captured the Silver Age exploits well.  The 1981 Spider-man show and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends were fun for their time.  By the time the X-Men, produced by Saban, came out I was in my twenties.  During this period I drifted from some Animated Television shows.  Recently I have enjoyed the shows shown on Disney Channel and the Direct-to-video Films from Marvel. 

MGM:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM were known for their Shorts from 1937 to 1957.  Fred Quimby and later Hanna-Barbera ran the Cartoon Studio.  The Studio was known for Droopy Dog, Screwy Squirrel, Barney Bear, Tom & Jerry, Spike & Tyke, and George and Junior.  Tex Avery and Hanna-Barbera are the stand out animators coming from this studio.  Avery did most of his most famous work here.  In 1957 the studio shut down.  MGM sub contracted various studios to make Tom & Jerry shorts up until the 1960’s.  Personally I love these shorts including the Chuck Jones Tom & Jerry cartoons from the 1960’s.  Avery and Chuck Jones are two of my favorite animators.  Avery’s work for MGM was phenomenal.  In the 180’s MGM Animation was created it mostly handled Don Bluth Productions except those handled with Steven Spielberg. Since 2000, the studio has not been that active.

Ruby-Spears Productions:

In the mid late 1970’s this studios spun off from two former Hanna-Barbera employees.  They operated till 1996.  They were known for a style very similar to Hanna-Barbera’s.  Their well known shows were Fangface, Plastic Man, Thundarr the Barbarian, Superman (1988) and various licensed properties.  They were decent productions I enjoyed them till the late 1980’s.  By that time, I was not as much into what was happening in animated shows. 

Terrytoons:

Terrytoons was one of the original Animation studios it existed from 1929 to 1968.  It was known for Heckle and Jeckle, Mighty Mouse, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, Luno, Hector Heathcote, Deputy Dawg, and The Mighty Heroes.  This is the studio were Ralph Bakshi got his start.  As a kid I loved Mighty Mouse and the Mighty Heroes, the rest of the Terrytoons characters fell flat for me.  I was especially not fond of Heckle and Jeckle.  Other than the two Superhero themed works I found terry toon not the greatest in character or animation.

Fleischer Studios/ Famous Studios/ Paramount Cartoon Studios:

Fleischer Studios were distributed by Paramount they were famous for Popeye, Superman (1941-1942), and Betty Boop.  The Fleischer Studios work was the chief competitor of Disney.  The studio closed in 1942.  Paramount in 1942 started Famous Studios (Paramount Cartoon Studios 1952).  Paramount Cartoon Studios closed in 1967.  They continued the Popeye and Superman Cartoon and added Little Audrey, Little Lulu, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Honey Halfwitch, Herman & Katnip, Barney Google & Snuffy Smith, Krazy Kat, Little Lulu, Beetle Bailey and Baby Huey to their line-up of shorts.  I grew up on Popeye cartoons, but the ones not made by Paramount from the 1960’s.  They seemed primitive in animation style.  The Casper, Baby Huey and I others I loved.  Funny thing I never saw the old Superman shorts till I was an adult.  I grew up with most of these cartoons.  They were not my favorites, but when I re-watch them I have fond memories.

Anime:

My experiences with Anime go way back.  As a kid I watched Kimba the White Lion. Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets AKA G-Force, Star Blazers and as a pre-teen Robotech.  These examples of Japanese Animation or Anime were not exactly watch was found in Japan.  They were many times re-scripted and the storyline were changed when dubbed in English.  Robotech took 3 different Anime series and unified them.  Those original shows were The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA.  It was not till 1988 when I saw Akira in the Theater did a see an unmolested version of Anime.  This was dubbed so it may have altered things to make it understandable to English speaking audiences.  In the Early 90’s Anime still was not coming to the U.S. without being re-written and re-edited.  There were folks making there own subtitled versions from bootlegged Japanese shows and movies.  Soon that changed companies saw that there was a demand for Japanese Anime that was not re-edited or re-written.  My local video stores did not carry many anime before 1996.  I used to go to Tigard or Beaverton and rent Anime.  I also used to accompany the viewing with Sushi.  I have seen many movies and shows up until 2000.  When I was with Barbara she hated anything Japanese.  Gone were my Sushi and Anime nights.  I have not tried that since I left I may need to restart that tradition.  I know I have seen Vampire Hunter D, Appleseed, Ranma1/2, Captain Harlock, Grave of the Fireflies, Ninja Scroll, Crying Freeman, Blood the Last Vampire, The Fist of the North Star, Project A-ko, The Big O, and Dirty Pair.  There have been more, but those are watch I can remember.  Since my life change I caught up with Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra.  Although they were American produced and written shows, they are heavily styled and influenced by Anime.  I enjoy the art and the difference in cultural perspective that Anime gives me. 

Here is what I feel about the various Animations studios and Anime.  That Is My Not So Humble Opinion. 

Rant-apalooza

Here are so of my observations from that last year that originally appeared on my Facebook page.  I hope you enjoy.

January 11^th, 2013

I was listening to Ham-Fisted Radio Today and Dawn Taylor was talking about her avocado dog video featuring Huell Howser. It reminds me of a family story. In the House I grew up in there was a huge Avocado tree. The bore softball sized fruit due to sitting on top of the septic tank. In the Eighties my brother and I had a pair of Cocker Spaniels. They loved avocados they used to jump up and pick them then hide them behind a shed covered in leaves to ripen. One year My Maternal Grandmother came to help out since My Mom was in the hospital. Grandma thought dogs eating avocados was a waste, sine they were rare in Oregon at the time where she lived. So here she was in Southern California warring with two Cocker Spaniels over their stash of Avocados. Those Dogs hated her for taking their treats. So every time I hear Avocados and Dogs I remember the Avocado war between my Dogs and my Grandma.

February 15^th, 2013

I bought Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts. It is a documentary about Warren Ellis and his impact of Popular Culture. At one point of my life Mr. Ellis was there everyday. I discovered him at the end of his Warren Ellis Forum era. When I was working as Tech Support for the First Cable Modem system, I would hang out in the Forum. I was not as impactful as some of the folks there. I talked from time to time with People like Matt Fraction and Larry Young. I never went on to create my own art like many of these others, YET. A major impediment to my creativity is gone. I am trying to get myself in a better head space to create. My problem is too many possibilities. I want to cook, I want to write and I want to create something. I have things that have been swimming in my head for decades ready to get out. The other thing I need to work out is to change the way I interact with the world. That main thing has to do with trying to avoid finding myself doing the same things I always have. I do not want history to repeat which has been occurring for the last few decades. It’s funny how a Movie instigates all this introspection. Right now I am looking for full time work. I am not going to be too picky. Then I am going to start doing things to begin the next phase: Writing, cooking and planning.

May 19^th, 2013

So after watching Rush's Induction or as Neil Pert put it Indictment to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I am stoked that I am going to the July 28th Concert at the Clark County Amphitheater. Mind you I have only been to 3 other Musical Concerts purposefully. I do not count a few State fairs or Amusement Parks (Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm or Disneyland). Those cases I was there and not for the concert. Only one time did I want to go to an Amusement park concert but my church group was leaving early. So I missed Cheap Trick in 1984. Since then I saw Stryper 1985, Anthrax, Primus, and Public Enemy 1991 (Bring the Noise Tour), and the H/.O.R.D.E. Festival (Blues Traveler, Lenny Kravitz, Dave Matthews Band and Rusted Root) 1996. Now I have been to four different WWE events in Portland, but those are different than your standard concert. Rush is my favorite band of all time. One of the first I discovered without my Uncle Bob or Cousin Steve. Both are older than me (8 years Bob and 4 years Steve). I have tried to go before this but my situation was not conducive. I have a Bucket list of things I want to do. Not because anything bad. It is due to having my freedom. I put off so much for others. I am going to be a bit more about my needs without being a complete selfish jerk.

August 11^th, 2013

So I watched Last season and this season of Food Network Star. Justin Warner last Season's winner does not have a regular show on Food Network or its Sister Channel Cooking Channel. What the hell. He has made two pilots for two different concepts, Culinary Rebel with a cause and Rebel Eats. Neither has spawned a show. Alton Brown was taken off as a producer as well. I have no proof, but it seems to me that their may be something fishy there at the network. Winners from the first season are gone. Their show was on only one season. Second season winner is still there Guy Fieri. Third season winner her show only had six episodes. Aaron McCargo, Jr had three seasons of his show. Melissa d'Arabian only had three Season of her show. Aarti Sequeira only had three Seasons of her show. Jeff Mauro has had two shows so he seems to be doing better. My word of advice to Damaris Phillips the newest winner, just because you won does not guarantee you will become a Star on that network. Three Small season of a show seem to be the average for the winners of Food Network Star. Three seasons is about a year and a half on the network. Sorry for the screed. It just had me wondering.

August 20^th, 2013

Finished watching the second episode of Heroes of Cosplay and it irritated me. These sizeist women are judging large people who cosplay. Mind you I have thought of cosplaying and I know I am a obese dude. The ideas I have thrown around, Modern version of Uncle Marvel of the Marvel Family, Armstrong of Archer and Armstrong, Shadowrun Trolls or Orks, Volstag the Voluminous and a few other characters of larger girth. Being my size I could do Kilowog or an original alien Green Lantern. Heck there is even an oversize flash character from the future. Me, I know what works with my body type, but that does not give me the right to tell other not to do something. I recently saw a list of 95 of the "worst" cosplayers. I get frustrated with people using the anonymity of the internet to be totally cruel jerks. Some of the costumes were bad for quality of work. Others were just there because of a unique body type of body feature that was different from the norm. Yes there are choices that can be just wrong like Caucasians painting themselves to be a person of color. I wonder about our society. We have wonderful ads from Dove showing women with real bodies that they are beautiful then you got stuff like this. Sorry for the screed. I have been working to get away from a judgmental paradigm in my life. So it irritates me when I see others do it.

November 6^th, 2013

Two recent reality shows have become casualties to my competition show method of watching TV. On Various cooking competitions shows I watch what the challenge it then fast forward to the judging. I may stop when there is a monkey wrench thrown it by the show. These two shows should be competition show but are not. Those shows are Heroes of Cosplay and Naked Vegas. I am interested in both from an artistic point of view. I fast forward to find out what their projects are fast forward to see the finished project. In Heroes of Cosplay I would get to the Competition section and what the other costumes but fast forward through most of the BS. I started doing this after the second episode. Since I have learned that much of the conflict on Heroes of Cosplay was manufactured for the show by the producers. That is the problem with Realities shows they act like they are documentaries when they are not. I got savvy to this with Gene Simmons' and the Real housewives show years ago. OK, there are my feelings about it. I love the artistic expression in both show but I do not care for the "drama" real or manufactured. 

When I first heard of Heroes of Cosplay and Naked Vegas that is what I thought we were getting another Face Off type show not the Reality stuff. I stopped watching Hell's Kitchen due the contestants seem to be dumber and dumber each succeeding year. Shows where the challenges are specific endeavors like Top Chef, Master Chef, Face Off, and the like work better than the others. I am not saying they are not manufactured bits to those. I fast forward through those parts.

November 16^th, 2013

Over the years I have tried Multiple Traditional Set Fantasy series in pseudo- Medieval settings. They do not resonate with me. I like Urban Fantasy, but most of it is typically all Vampires and Werewolves. There are some that are not like that, Mortal Instruments and the Harry Potter series. The Vamps and Weres are the glut. One of my Favorite series, the Dresden Files, has Vamps and Weres but that is not the central point of the series. I enjoy Victorian Era set Fantasy and Sci-Fi. That is due to the fact of cutting my teeth on Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs. So I am enjoying the Steampunk. However I would never be able to write in it. I like the Metamor City setting. It is a Urban almost Cyberpunk meets magic setting in a world that was a Medieval Fantasy setting that evolved. I also like Shadowrun which is set in a Future Earth where magic came back so Fantasy meets cyberpunk as well. My favorite author, Charles de Lint, does what is referred to as Mythic Fiction. He skirts the typical Urban Fantasy, but avoids the obvious tropes. He is reminiscent the magic realism movement from Latin America. That is what I see.

December 9^th, 2013

I was talking to a friend about my recent Charles de Lint and me blog article. He said he did not really care Science Fiction and Fantasy. I compare de Lint Kafka. His work is more Reminiscent, at least to me of Latin American Magical Realism or literary uses of Fantasy and/ or Science Fiction Element. Other than Kafka, Vonnegut, William S. Burroughs and Virginia Woolf has used similar elements without using many of the clichés of genre. After a while I kinda felt pushy. More like a literary pusher. De Lint's work I feel is not like many of the typical Fantasy and Urban Fantasy authors out there. I would compare his work with that of Neil Gaiman it that aspect. Mind you their styles are very different. De Lint is more subtle and Gaiman has more whimsy to his works. Even though he does fantasy including Faeries and other fae folk his work seems more grounded and down to earth.

December 15^th, 2013

I was talking to my Uncle Bob about how Portland has become Nerdvana. At first we thought that it was a recent thing (15 to 20 years). We realized Portland has always been geeky and nerdy. None of the University in the city are known for athletics, they are known for academics. My Uncle was part of the Portland Music scene in the Early to mid 80's as a professional drummer. He and his friends listened to Dr. Demento and watched Star Trek. Our climate lends itself to Indoor pursuits for 6 to 9 months a year. We are really passionate about those pursuits. We always have had a crafty side to this area; I remember this to visiting during the Holidays as a kid in the 70's and 80's. Portland's Craftiness is evident in that the Portland Saturday Market started in 1973. For the longest time, Channel 12 KPTV aired Star Trek and Perry Mason. In 1986, Mike Richardson started Dark Horse Comics. Even when I moved to the the Portland area in 1985 there were numerous comics shops. Like I said earlier it is not a new thing. It has been part of the fabric of this town.

December 21^st, 2013

I am watching Hawaii Five-0 (the newer version) and a junkyard dog, a Rottweiler finds a corpse. I am reminded that most of the demonized dog breeds are ones I love. German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Pit Bulls (which covers American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier and so on), Doberman Pinscher, Mastiffs, and Bull Mastiff have at one time or another been given a bad rap. The breeds are never a problem the bad owners are.

I was living at an Apartment complex that had a ban on Pit bulls. The manager who also managed a pet shop was trying to get us to by an American Staffordshire Terrier. I informed him that was one of the breeds referred to as Pit Bulls. I had to show him in my Atlas on Dog Breeds. For someone who was so into dogs I was surprised. I love these breeds they tend to be very loyal and protective.

Another story is when I was a Flagger for a utility company we had a woman come by with a huge Bull Mastiff. My co-workers said it was a big puppy and no concern. I laughed. He may be nice here out in the neighborhood, but I would not want to be coming onto his property without invitation. As a former Postal worker I have learned that dogs do not behave the same out and about as they do on their home turf. I am living with two dogs, but they are not mine. I have been a big dog person for most of my life. For 10 years I lived with just with cats. Right now I am not ready to have anyone dependent on me, human or critter. That may change.