We absolutedly need an animation thread

I can't believe there hasn't been a thread about this before, it's just insane, I know some guys here love the stuff. Barnes can't help dropping titles from time to time and I know he's not the only one.


Even though I have always seen a couple Japanese cartoons here and there, I never cared about actual animation until for some reason or another I decided to order the first DVD of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. And man, was I in for a surprise, they were the best twenty dollars I have ever spent, it didn't took me more than an hour to order the next two sets, I was that amazed.

You know, they were so great in so many regards. Not only are they jsut fun to watch, the more you analyze what it's on the picture the funnier they get. All those small movements, the incredible composition and coloring...I think my understanding of art increased ten fold with each cartoon I saw. All those ideas I had about timing, composition and humour were sublimated in the cartoons in the brashest of the ways. Incredibly, really. Concerning the Warner directors it seems I'm a Clampett man, though I love Chuck Jones oppresive world view and Tashlin beats both as not my favourite director of all time.

From there I also thought it would be fun to watch other's studios output with my now gained perspective as an adult. Disney was a first choice but I didn't like most of it, it's very tame and, dare I say, boring. Everything was very well made but I felt the incredible production values were being wasted on the actual content. It's true that Disney had some quite weird obsession with irritated asses and that's a shame.

Tex Avery's output fared better for me, though he doesn't quite click in my mind, I understand what he's communcating, how not to! But he's so brave and direct he kind of fails to surprise me so I either don't think too much of the short I saw or I can't control my laughter.

I then tried Fleischer and Lantz, which are fun but I only like ocasionally. "Swing you sinners" may be one of the best cartoons ever made but I can't get past the old school feel of most of the former's shorts while Lantz seems more inconsistent than other studios.

I was surprised when I loved UPA shorts because they are nothing like the the Warner's but I just like seeing them. They are cute but also interesting to watch and while to some they may seem overly pretentious, I just like how they tried to push the boundaries. They released a restored DVD which looks pretty amazing, the prints I have right now don't make the shorts justice compared to what I've seen online.


As you can see, I have listed only classic animators. Why? Because after watching them I can barely tolerate anything else. Watching anime makes me skin crawl and the Simpsons make my eye bleed. Wish I was exaggerating more than I am because being limited to a handful of movies sucks.

One show I really liked was Invader Zim. Sure, the fanbase is horrendous and the dvds are expensive as fuck but the show is well made, with pretty appealing drawings and the cynism and frustration make it a good fit for Chuck Jones fan. Shame it's unfinished in a sense.


SO yeah, I think that's enough for you to start flaming. Bring it on!

I can't say I've watched any of the classic cartoons in years. I was never a fan of the Disney stuff (shorts that is). I've never liked Mickey Mouse. Well, my one caveat is Duck Tales, but that's a whole 'nother era than what you're talking about.

As for stuff that's currently on TV, I'm a fan of Regular Show. It's in that same age bracket as Adventure Time where it's for older kids and adults, but not Adult Swim material. It's a good balance of humor. It makes fun of hipsters a lot, but it's pretty hip itself.

I watched a couple episodes of Bob's Burgers with my brother-in-law last week. I was expecting more Family Guy/American Dad trash, but it was actually pretty good. It throws out a few too many non-sequitors sometimes, but it's got H. Jon Benjamin as voice talent which is always good.

I am watching Gravity Falls right now. It's spooky, smart, and beautifully drawn. Kinda like if Eerie Indiana were animated.

The closest anything has come to replicating the genius of Looney Tunes in the last 50 years is Pinky and The Brain and to a slightly lesser extent The Animaniacs. One can't expect the animation to be as fantastic for a TV show as it was for the theatrical shorts but the humor and attitude are all there. Pinky and the Brain is just scathing and hilarious.

Home Movies is a very under appreciated series. I found it's dry humor to be great and I can't hear the voice of H. Jon Benjamen without thinking of Coach McGuirk. The first season is in "squiggle vision" which is annoying as hell but the show is worth it. (Note to self...research who's idea squiggle vision was and add them to The List).

For absolute over-the-top vulgarity, crudeness, and inappropriateness on a level so far beyond the acceptable that it is one of the funniest shows I've seen in years is Archer. And it is a class of intelligent vulgarity that makes Family Guy seem like it was written by 10 year-olds. It's tough to put into words but watch it and you'll see what I mean. Yes the animation itself is atrocious but damn if it doesn't make me laugh non stop. Destroying all super spy tropes and going far beyond...just great...but don't watch it with your kids.

Adult Swim has some good stuff but the animation is all very cheap. Some of the shows speak to my sense of humor (Metalocolypse) and some I just don't get (Super Jail).

In the theaters, I don't think you'll ever see animation as like those produced in the 30's through 60's. The old process is just too slow and too expensive.

I've been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix. I just finished the first season, which after some fits and starts ended very well. I've seen the first two episodes of season two, and it's already off to a rip-roaring start. Great show if you give it a chance.

Looney Tunes and Clampett are the best possible place to start a thread on animation. Clampett is the man! For my money though the early B&W Popeye's are every bit as good as Clampetts work. There's a disc out that has a good collection of them and includes some absolutely stunning full colour movies the Fleischers did that aren't as awesome as the B&W shorts but have some truly stunning 3D effects where they film actual backgrounds and draw the cells over top of them. It's hard to believe how old it is when you watch them because they are so f'ing good.

For me the closest anything has come since then is The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse (it's Ralph Bakshi at his best with my hero John K in an understudy role) there are a ton of great animators that came out of that show including John K but also Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) and Bruce Timm (The Animated Batman) and a host of others. It is a truly remarkable show and the DVD collection is worth the money. The ManBat episode is brilliant but so it the first short they do and then it's spotty after that but every third or fourth one reminds you why you spent the money.

The other thing that did as well for me was the first three seasons of Ren and Stimpy and then John K's return to the characters in his adult part cartoons. There is one called Naked Beach Frenzy that I must have seen like 30 times and I still get painful belly laughs when I watch it. Stimpy's Prenant is pretty damn good too. They do some cool things like write words on the screen while the thing the word is describing is happening and it feels so modern yet classic at the same time. Like everyone forgot what Clampett was doing and John K said: "Where would animation have gone if people were truly influenced by him?" I love them.

I got into Samurai Jack for awhile and it was a fun show that had a neat look to it. Something a little different.

Anyone here see John K's couch gag for the Simpsons last year.. it's super cool, check it out. I can't find the actual clip anymore. Maybe it was pulled but here's a John K interview and at about 8:17 there is a small clip of the couch gag. One of the best things on the Simpsons in years. Pure visual bliss.

Home Movies is great and hilarious. Although, I think the show started to lose its way towards the end. Not enough home movies in Home Movies. I liked the squiggle vision, I thought it fit the tone of the show. Poorly crafted like Brendon's movies. Squiggle vision is also used in Dr. Katz which is another good show.

I like Archer's Adobe Illustrator vector graphics style animation. Mostly because I spend my time looking at it thinking about how I could recreate a still from it. But, the show is hilarious. A great spoof of spy movies, like you said.

I never got into Ren and Stimpy. It was just too weird for me. And I like weird stuff. It just never clicked for me. I also don't like Spongebob Squarepants.

Speaking of Samurai Jack, I was a big fan of Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Lab in the late '90s. Also, Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

Home Movies is absolutely brilliant but I think 1st season is weak overall, mostly because of the animation but the 2nd season is where the show gets its legs. The episode where McGurk is trying to be a bartender is sooooo good. Or the one where he's trying to build that BBQ in Paula's backyard. I love how all the character's first names are the same as the voice actors' first names to make the ad lib more fluid and realistic.

But yeah, that's my probably my favourite animated series of all time

edit: oh no, wait, the best episode is the one where Brandon directs the school play and McGurk drive his car onto the stage too early (where Shannon gets a leading part). That creepy italian kid who is crushing on Melissa is SOOOO awesome. I think I talked like him for an entire month once.

I generally like John K. more in small doses. Ren & Stimpy is almost too out there to watch for more than 15 minutes at a stretch. But if you want to see where more internet animation gets it's look, timing, and general humor, Ren and Stimpy seems like as good a place as any to point out.

Home Movies is a funny show. I'll never forget the episode where McGurk inherits an 18-year-old sausage from a dead uncle. "This sausage could vote. This sausage could die for its country."

Obviously, The Simpsons also belongs in any conversation about the greatest animated anything. Definitely past its prime, but definitely THAT good at its height.

The early Simpsons shorts belong, certainly. But the longer show, the sitcom itself, is not really great animation. I enjoy it, and Futurama as well, or South Park but the humour is very rarely based on the animation itself the way that Looney Tunes, Popeye, Ren and Stimpy or even Woody Woodpecker is. People in animation sometimes refer to that stuff as "animated radio" because the animation is not that important. The worst offender ever is King of the Hill.. there is no reason to animate that show. It could have been done with live actors and wouldn't effect the quality at all. Simpsons is tougher to make the argument for but I think most people would agree that the majority of the humour is in the writing itself, the script. With the shows I'm talking about the humour is all in the drawing... the animation itself is funny, and it makes a huge difference to me.

I love the Batman animated series but the animated part of that title is misleading. There really isn't anything about it that needs to be animated like in an old Popeye when the Tea Kettle whistles and temporarily turns into a train engine whistle to get the message across or when Popeye punches a cow and prepared burgers fall from the sky.

I love Pixar but almost none of their movies are pure animation. They are script heavy as well. Incredibles is close but even there. Very little needs to be animated and could work just as well as live action.

In fact any cartoon that rely's on it's script first is automatically less interesting to me.

repoman wrote: and to a slightly lesser extent The Animaniacs

I ran across this the other day:

JonJacob wrote: In fact any cartoon that rely's on it's script first is automatically less interesting to me.

You know, that's something that bothers me too. If you want to make a good animated film, the animation should be good, in the same way a good game should have good gameplay, it's the reason to use the medium, if you are going to give everyone the same face, why even bother? It's a colossal waste of time.

I mean, there's simply no reason to. What does the Simpson gain from being animated? Nothing, really, it just makes the process more expensive and the flaws more obvious. Instead of an actual actor with a perfectly subtle mouth movement which is perfectly realistic we get robotic movenets and blurry facial features that are all the same on all the characters. It's a movie yet what moves is terrible and uninteresting, I watch it and I feel like I'm wasting my time.

This doesn't mean you can't have a good script but to claim that an animated movie shouldn't be well animated is both assinine and surprisingly common! Pixar has repeatedly been quoted on this, claiming all that matters to be the script and everything else being secondary.

Really, why do you show me Bart and Lisa being shocked and their lips making a wavy line if it isn't interesting? And why do you do it all the time?


This is probably why I love "Book Revue" so much. It has no plot. It has no characters, only emotions and a feeling. It doesn't make sense and if you write it down, nothing is really happening. But just the way Daffy walks, the way he sings, he moves and he looks is incredibly fun ,funnier than everything else in the cartoon. That power when he stomps and gets clothed, the way he shouts quiet, the sudden calm as he imitates Danny Kayne...Damn, damn, damn, it's just amazing. It's like all those shots in Indiana Jones and Citizen Kane, they are so good they suck you in just by existing.



That walk at 1:00 gets me everytime. Can't get enough of it.

For me, it's all about Adventure Time. I absolutely adore the show. It works for kids and adults, but it doesn't work with adults by including a bunch of sarcastic bullshit, pop culture references or anything. It's probably the most good natured show I've ever seen.

Agreed, Clampett is just the best Warner Bros. director.

For Fleischer, make sure to watch the Cab Calloway Betty Boops (there are three of them), they are flat-out my favorite cartoons of all time. I have no idea where to find a good quality copy of them, though, the youtube versions are atrocious. Oh sweet Jesus, and Bimbo's Initiation!!!

For Disney...you really think they're wasted on the content? Disney had a very small golden age for their shorts, but during that era they're funny and INCREDIBLY animated. Watch The Band Concert, Donald is hysterical, and it might be the best color animation I've ever seen. I could watch The Old Mill over and over again, too. Or the freaking Skeleton Dance!!! Admittedly, my favorite Disney cartoons are the ones that kinda look like Fleischer cartoons, with those rubbery limbs.

Erik, I'm not sure why you think this cartoon doesn't make sense if you write it down. The cartoon is 100% the sort of "bullshit pop culture" reference that GarySax decries in the very next post.

The bit you It starts with a play off Eddie Cantor's radio show (that's the Mad Russian character) along with the biggest sponsor of the day, Lucky Strike cigarettes--"so round, so firm, so fully packed"...so freeeeeee and easssssy on the draw. LS...MFT, LS...MFT' would be the rest of the jingle they used for nearly 40 years.

After the slapstick moment, it goes into a pretty straight parody of Cab Calloway's scat...and, hell, he's even dressed like Calloway. If I remember this one correctly, the rest of the cartoon is a play off the old "race movies" that the audience would be familiar with. I think Daffy as either Carmen Miranda or Lupe Velez (one of the many "fruit on his head" bits) makes an appearance in this one, too.

It's only "nonsense" now because an awful lot of people seem to think that, prior to the ubiquity of cable television, entertainment consisted of making cross-stitch samplers by candle light or churning butter or somesuch. A huge chunk of the old WB animated shorts were based mostly or entirely around references to the movie and radio serials of the day.

Now, all of you, get the hell off my lawn before I start throwing burned out tubes pulled from my 300 lb shortwave cabinet at you.....