RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media Bugs Bunny and pals get a facelift

Quote:

---

Wednesday said:

---

The thing that scares me is that at some point these will probably become Happy Meal toys.
Would you want your kids playing with those spiky evil things?

Just seen on ABC news of a small kidd being shown a picture of the New Bugs Bunny and he was asked who it was, his reply was "its an Evil Bugs Bunny"(did i chuckle) Bet WB marketing are looking for a poor sap to be a scapegoat allready.

Quote:

---

Buzz Dixon said (at CBR Forums):
Y'know, some things are just...over.

LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND was a classic example of the American comic strip.

It's over.

WHIZ comics and the affiliate Marvel Family titles were great super-hero comics.

They're over.

THE SHADOW was the great pulp magazine and/or radio show ever.

It's o.v.e.r.

There's nothing wrong with having fond nostaligia for the things that entertained us as kids, or to recognize worthy accomplishments of the past. Old material and old art forms can still be entertaining to modern audiences.

But they're over.

Nothing lasts forever; everything has a life cycle. Some intellectual properties can stay fresh for a long, long time and stage effective comebacks before fading away.

But sooner or later they're all over.

This is especially true for visual and musical media (print and dramatic media has an advantage; a good concept, strong characters can keep a property going in ancillary venues long after the original property in the original medium is passe' viz TARZAN and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA). Case in point: I love Laurel and Hardy, I think they're the funniest comedy duo in history, but they are over. Anybody who discovers them today discovers them as celluloid fossils, not as vibrant contemporary performers.

Bugs had a long run.

But he's over. Everybody has seen every Bugs Bunny cartoon they want to see; there is nothing new to be said in the Bugs Bunny universe. Nobody is looking for new Bugs material -- they're looking for FRUITS BASKET and GET FUZZY and KIM POSSIBLE (and some of those may have already started their inevitable declines but that fact won't be obvious for a few months or years yet).

I'm not saying this to be cold or indifferent: You're talking to somebody who considers himself a historian and connisseur of pop cultre and I dearly love silent movies, 1950s West coast jazz, Republic serials, Merrie Melodies, MGM musicals, and George Pal sci-fi movies.

But they're over.

I begrudge no one their pleasure. But some things are just plain ol' over and no amount of fond memories of wishful executive thinking will ever bring them back.

---

Quote:

---

The Time Trust said:
I wonder whether this thought ever crosses the minds of the editors at DC and Marvel in regards to their more antiquated properties?

---

Quote:

---

King Snarf said:
Rob, you're wrong. The reason Animaniacs worked is that it was something new, yet stayed true to the spirit of Bugs & Co. These "Loonatics" are neither.

---

Quote:

---

rex said:
I just showed this pic to my 5 year old nephew.


He asked what it was and I told him it was the new looney tunes. He called me a liar and pushed it away. I think that pretty much proves what we all think.

---

Quote:

---

The Time Trust said:
I think I understand what mean, Danny, but how is Rob going to smuggle the uzi all the way up to the executive offices all by himself?

---

Petition convinces network to make characters less menacing

TULSA, Oklahoma (AP) -- Eleven-year-old Thomas Adams thought Warner Bros. had gone daffy when he saw the company's plans for a new cartoon called "Loonatics," based on Bugs Bunny and his Looney Tunes pals.

The grimacing, hollow-eyed, power-fisted prototypes of a futuristic Bugs, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner struck the boy as dark and scary. In the words of Daffy Duck, he found them "dethh-picable."

Now, nearly two months after starting an Internet petition drive against the TV series' fall debut, Thomas has gotten the company's attention.

Warner Bros. Entertainment spokesman Scott Rowe said his company wants the thousands of fans upset by the made-over characters unveiled in February to know "that's NOT all, folks." (Warner Bros. is a division of Time Warner, as is CNN.)

Those "early drawings" have been revised into characters that are softer and less menacing, he said.

"We heard the outcry from fans, including Thomas," Rowe said.

That's enough to draw an emphatic "YESSS!" from the lanky fifth-grader who started the stir with fewer than 20 signatures on a piece of paper at his private school.

Thomas couldn't figure out what was up with the plans to turn the old Looney Tunes gang into their Japanese anime-styled descendants. The prototypes depicted sword-eared superheroes, such as "Buzz Bunny," battling evil in the year 2772.

"Those weren't the Looney Tunes I know," said the boy, whose favorite classic character is the Tasmanian Devil "besides Bugs, of course."

Thomas' parents, Rachel and John Adams, suggested he might have more success by taking his drive to the Web. A family friend who runs an Internet design business was willing to help.

Between piano lessons and shooting hoops, the boy pedaled his bike to the friend's house over several evenings to work on the site's content. On February 28, www.saveourlooneytunes.com came on line.

The petition asked Warner Bros. to create entirely new characters for the series instead of "ruining" the old ones.

Within days, the response had overwhelmed the family's home computer. By late March, more than 25,000 people from around the world had signed the petition. After a CNN story on Thomas aired in mid-April, the site had tallied 80,000 signatures and 95,000 hits, the family said.

"Keep up the fight," fellow fans urged in their e-mails, calling the boy an inspiration.

The passion of fans for the old characters is understandable, said Bob Bergen, the voice actor behind Porky's stutter and Tweety's "putty tat" the past 15 years.

"They've been around since the 1930s," he said. "They've been around as long as classic motion pictures."

Bergen, who decided at age 5 he wanted to be Porky Pig and "just pursued it," is not involved in the new series' development, but he cautions fans against rushing to judgment before it airs.

"The kids who are going to be seeing this are not as versed in classic Looney Tunes as these fans are," he said. "Let the target audience be the judge."

The "Loonatics" -- scheduled to air Saturday mornings come fall on Kids' WB! -- is aimed at 6-to-11-year-olds. Test groups loved it, Rowe said.

It's not intended to replaced the original characters, which appear in new episodes on Cartoon Network and classic shows on the network's station Boomerang.

"We just wanted to create something that would be accessible and fun to a new generation of kids," he said.

He said the redrawn characters will be unveiled at a later date but that "Loonatics" will remain an action-adventure show.

Thomas, who has dreams of becoming a cartoonist or comedian, hopes Warner Bros. also will continue to create new episodes for the old Looney Tunes gang.

Thrilled to have made a difference in a way his mother calls "a David and Goliath story," the young activist is considering a new protest.

"I was thinking about doing one against homework," he said.

Quote:

---

I'm Not Mister Mxypltk said:
ZOMBIES!!!

---

Quote:

---

Cambodian Troops Quarantine Quan'sul

There has been a small outbreak of “zombism” in a small town near the border of Laos in North-Eastern Cambodia.

The culprit was discovered to be mosquitoes native to that region carrying a new strain of Malaria which thus far has a 100 percent mortality rating killing victims in fewer than 2 days.

After death, this virus is able to restart the heart of it’s victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believe to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during “resurrection.”

Cambodian officials say that the outbreak has been contained and the public has no need to worry.

General Ary Serey had this to say, "We have obtained samples of this new virus and plan to learn how it starts the heart and other major organs of the deceased. We intend to use this to increase the quality of life for all."

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice opposed the plan saying that the Cambodian government holds a great biological weapon and should destroy it immediately. Cambodian officials have yet to comment.

A United Nations team will be dispatched to Cambodia to confirm the safety of biological research in Cambodia.

---