LOONEY TUNE-UPS

The New York Post ^ | February 17, 2005 | ADAM BUCKMAN

[MadIvan]

February 17, 2005 -- HAS Warner Bros. gone daffy?

For Kids' WB's new show "Loonatics," a futuristic bugs Bunny loses his light-and-fluffy look to become a fierce, sharpclawed beast with superpowers. Warner Bros.

That's what fans of the studio's classic cartoon characters might be asking after they get a look at the new, futuristic versions of some of their favorite animated heroes, which Warner unveiled yesterday.

The Looney Tunes characters — six in all — have been "reimagined" (in studio parlance) for a new series called "Loonatics," which is set to air next fall on WPIX/Channel 11 as part of the Saturday morning Kids' WB program lineup.

[MadIvan]

They showed this on the news here and some British kids got a look at the new characters. Thumbs down.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[Eragon]

You have GOT to be kidding me! UGGGG. Crappy looking new cartoons are bad enough with out destroying good, old characters.

[GeronL]

good grief.... the WB is full of maroons

[Gumption]

That's dithspicable.

[GeronL]

hey, my post didn't come up

[GeronL]

there is it

[Gumption]

Are you logged in?

[GeronL]

How many times do I have to refresh to see it?? =o)

[GeronL]

I still think WB owes me money for using my family name, and the medicine company GERON CORP owes me too =o)

signed, Floyd Geron Looney

[Gumption]

Sometime it shows up right away. Sometimes it takes awhile. I have no idea why that is.

[Polonius]

As someone who grew up on the classics (just re-watched "What's Opera, Doc?" recently), I have one word: Ugh. I wonder what the old Termite Terrace crew would say about this.

[Mo1]

Is that the rabbit that attacked Jimmy Carter?

[Mr. Silverback]

LOL!

[Mr. Silverback]

Looney Tunes fans to Warner Brothers: Of course you realize, this means war!

[RayChuang88]

I wonder have you seen some of the stuff that Disney Worldwide Publishing (Italia) has done in the last ten years.

They actually turned Donald Duck into a superhero in a series of Italian-language comics sold under the PK name, which has proven to be quite popular. In short, Disney got there first when it came to a drastic change in one of their "signature" creations.

(Mind you, I'd love to see Disney turn that into an animated TV series....)

[Salamander]

Nobody remembers MTV's "The Maxx"?

It's already been done.

[Lexinom]

It's part of the site's load-balancing scheme. You happened to hit "post" at the same time as twenty-five or 100 other users, and the requests get queued, prioritized, and finally committed to the database one after another. So there's NO need to re-post, just be patient :-)

This site, with the incredible data throughput volumes it must maintain, is truly a marvel of cyberspace.

[GeronL]

FR is the best website ever, bar none

[Lexinom]

I heartily agree. Think about how we've each played a little tiny part in shaping history through the exchange of ideas. Or in a few cases, a bit more than tiny: Buckhead comes to mind...

[Caipirabob]

Ping!

Of relevance, perhaps? : )

[Smokin' Joe]

Dig out the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!!!!

Ick!

[Happygal]

What's up with the old bugs, doc?

[MadIvan]

It's just another tradition that the fools in Hollywood are flushing down the toilet.

The good news is that technology is becoming cheaper - so I suspect people will do their own Bugs Bunny cartoons in the future.

Regards, Ivan

[Gumption]

I just can't see the new Bugs, dressed as a woman, kissing Elmer on the lips. It wouldn't look funny ... just really really gay.

[Happygal]

Elmer would be one ugly gay man *LOL*

I don't think elmer could possibly be queer....not with that dress sense. *L*

[Happygal]

If these new cartoon makers want an evil bunny...they should burst on.

But the success of Bugs Bunny is comedy combined with his cuteness.

[OXENinFLA]

Nobody remembers MTV's "The Maxx"?

Mtv's the Maxx?

That was an Image comic........I think I've got like 1-5, very strange comic.

[Quilla]

ROFL!

[TXBSAFH]

I have several things to say:

1. What type, quality, and quantity of recreational pharmaceuticals are these morons taking?

2. Once again Hollywierd take something nice and wholesome. Something that has worked for years. And makes changes to fit them not the public. I predict this will be a bomb big time.

[N. Theknow]

Boy, I say Boy, pay attention when I'm talking to you son. I say looks like these artistes got their brains off the floor of the chicken coop.

They remind me of Paul Revere's ride... a little light in the belfry.

[Darnright]

Boy, this makes a lot of sense. Why doesn't WB leave the old characters alone, and come up with names for these new critters.

I guess they've taken to heart,

"Kill the Wabbit, kill the Wabbit!"

[mewzilla]

Thith ith dethpicable.

[Buckhead]

New Coke.

[MadIvan]

New Coke.

Quite. I have not heard a single positive reaction to this change.

Regards, Ivan

[Gumption]

And did that scam work?

Oh, yeah that did work.

[dsc]

Hollyweird is trying to stay alive by cannibalizing itself.

How many sixties cartoons have been turned into live-action movies?

I recently watched Seinfeld for the first time. In an interview on the DVD, Seinfeld and the other main creative voice both claimed that they simply told the studio big-wigs that they weren't going to do what the big-wigs said.

That and other things lead me to hypothesize that the industry is dominated by no-talent, tone-deaf philistine bean-counters, who suppress talent.

[jeremiah]

It was not that long ago that one could watch cartoons from the past on different channels, now there is nothing. It is like they were all swallowed up. Now the Disney channel has recycled all of the old characters, and very seldom do they air the classics of the past.

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

Thank God no one has attempted to modernize the best cartoon of them all, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, aka Moose and Squirrel.

Just thinking about a 21st century version of Captain Peter Wrongway Peachfuzz, Gidney & Cloyd, Mr.Peabody, King Amos Bushwick the 33rd, Fearless Leader, let alone Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose, is enough to give me the collywobbles.

oogle, oogle...

[mhking]

Why can't they leave well enough alone?

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[Bikers4Bush]

Way to ruin a good thing WB idiots.

[HamiltonJay]

Prediction: FLOP.

[TXBSAFH]

5 bucks say no one who ok'ed this can pass a drug test.

[VermiciousKnid]

You do that remarkably well!

Regards,

[Tribune7]

Actually, I'm kind of glad. It will make it easy to differentiate between the old, witty, perceptive, decent, intelligent originals and this new stuff which I'd bet the farm is going to be garabage regardless of what the characters looked like.

[The South Texan]

Oh, how stupid can WB be?

This has to go down with New Coke as one of dumbest moves to remake something that is a classic.

[King Prout]

um. ok. this is gay.
this is so out of line with the wit, charm, and spirit of the originals that I am forced to conclude thet the WB is attempting to kill off their animation franchise.

[GodBlessUSA]

I'm so glad my kids don't watch these cartoons. The music in them drive me up the wall. Now they are going to be so ugly too.

[N. Theknow]

WB, you have made me very angry. Very angry indeed.

K-9, prepare my Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

[VermiciousKnid]

Good Lord, you do THAT remarkably well, too! You are a talented man, N. Theknow!

Regards,