Homework Cartoons

[Marty26]

This isn't necessarily a "good or bad cartoons" question, but more a question of which cartoons seem like "homework cartoons" to you: ie. cartoons that were clearly made to fulfill a contract and nothing more?

Here are a couple I can think of:

Foxy By Proxy
My Bunny Lies Over The Sea (although this is still a great cartoon IMO)
It's Nice To Have A Mouse Around The House
Knights Must Fall
My Little Duckaroo
Senorella And The Glass Huarache.

[Matt the Y]

How do any of the cartoons you mentioned seem like "homework" cartoons to you? I don't really get a sensation of those out of the ones you chose (well, with the obvious exception of "It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House", the first in the gratuitious and incongruous series of D/S cartoons, "My Little Duckaroo", a tired and useless attempt to re-do the original "Dripalong Daffy", and "Senorella and the Glass Huarache", a one-shot done in the waning days of the original WB cartoon studio).

Most of those other cartoons seemed like an honest attempt to make a decent cartoon to me, not so much half-hearted and last-minute attempts to make a cartoon just to fill-out a production schedule. "Foxy by Proxy", despite an unorthodox plot, has Freleng's usual brilliant comic timing and plotting as does "Knights Must Fall" (which has a believeable and standard plot for Bugs) and "My Bunny Lies Over the Sea", as you yourself observed, is a great cartoon with Jones' usual use of brilliant direction and animation. Besides, the mentality of the studio was that their cartoons weren't going to last longer than a regular theater run anyway (plus, the directors' mindset was that they were making them for "themselves" more or less as well) so, in this aspect, couldn't pretty much all their cartoons be seen as "homework cartoons" to a certain extent?

[Brandon Panther]

Cheater cartoons like "His Hare-Raising Tale" should qualify as a "homework" cartoon.

Non-cheater cartoons like Rabbit Seasoning or Mexican Cat Dance could possibly qualify. They just took rejected gags or plot elements from previous cartoons to churn out to fill a schedule.

Road Runner cartoons, and Pepe Le Pew cartoons also.

[Marty26]

Yeah, Mexican Cat Dance is definitely a "homework cartoon." As are many of the 1963-1964 cartoons, come to think of it. I guess Shishkabugs would also count, even though I admittedly like that cartoon. :shame:

Matt, in response to your post, I'd like to reemphasize that "homework cartoon" =/= "failure." I just get the impression that Foxy By Proxy was a homework cartoon, since it was basically a remake of a 1940 (I think Tex Avery) short whose name escapes me. And the other cartoons like My Bunny Lies Over The Sea were a bit on the going-through-the-motions side. Which isn't to say they aren't great cartoons. Just that, compared to other WB cartoons of their respective time periods, there isn't really anything about them that stands out.

[dandu]

Bunny Hugged seems to me to be a homework cartoon. The pacing is all wrong, as well as it is really just a reworking of Rabbit Punch (1948). Nothing really special about this cartoon as well as it felt very disjointed.

[Glowworm]

I just get the impression that Foxy By Proxy was a homework cartoon, since it was basically a remake of a 1940 (I think Tex Avery) short whose name escapes me.
That would be "Of Fox and Hounds"-complete with a fox named George!:D

To be honest I'd call "The Peachy Cobbler" a homework cartoon. It just doesn't quite seem 100% Tex Avery (Too cutesy at the beginning and end with a narrator) It seems very much like Freleng's "Holiday for Shoestrings" (which I enjoy more IMO)

[oceansoul]

I dunno. Homework cartoons are not always the cheaters or remakes, but everything that is really just only made to fulfill the director's contract, and nothing more. In WB's perspective most of the lacklustre, uninspired, talky stuff after the shutdown fell into this category.

IMO the majority of the Road Runner, Pepe le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Foghorn Leghorn and Tweety formula cartoons are definately just part of the job. They aren't bad, some of them are quite good, but still only a homework. Well, at least how I interpret this.

[nickramer]

So the fourm comes down to this....

As for this subject, most of the time no one had no idea what the final result would be. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it does not. These people were just doing their jobs and making the best of it.

[Thad]

As for this subject, most of the time no one had no idea what the final result would be. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it does not. These people were just doing their jobs and making the best of it.

Nic's got it right. These guys were doing this stuff as they went along between hot foots. Some were just better at their jobs than others.

[David Gerstein]

I'm afraid Charles Nichols knew exactly what the final result would be. Yhawn.

[Bugsy-Kun]

Did cartoons like "This is a Life?" or "Freudy Cat" could be considered like homework cartoons?

In case of "Freudy Cat", it seems they didn't have the idea about how the cartoon will finish. :sylvester:shame:

[Fibber Fox]

Nic's got it right. These guys were doing this stuff as they went along between hot foots.

Don't forget the booze.

Oh, and Shamus Culhane's bridge games with ladies that, um, weren't in the ink and paint department.

F. Fox
http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com

[nickramer]

I'm afraid Charles Nichols knew exactly what the final result would be. Yhawn.
Though one in a while, he get's the film right (i.e."Plutopia" and "Grand Canyonscope").

[kaseykockroach]

Though one in a while, he get's the film right (i.e."Plutopia" and "Grand Canyonscope").
I think the main problem was always assigning the directors to character (Jack Hannah only gets to do Donald, Kinney only does Goofy, Nichols Pluto and Mickey), rather than what the system at Warners, or other studios for that matter. Perhaps if Nichols did other cartoons besides Mickey & Pluto, they would've turned out better, and his reputation wouldn't be as low.

[J. A. Boschen]

Terry-Toons :D

[dandu]

Especially the ones made between 1930-1932. They seem to reuse a lot of animation from earlier 1920s cartoons.

[Marty26]

So the fourm comes down to this....


Well, such is what happens when WB decides not to release a Golden Collection this year, and our favorite classic cartoons are essentially tossed in the has-been dump.

[nickramer]

Well, such is what happens when WB decides not to release a Golden Collection this year, and our favorite classic cartoons are essentially tossed in the has-been dump.
You had to put it that way, huh?

[Marty26]

You had to put it that way, huh?

Considering that a good number of 6 or 7 year olds today have no idea who Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, or Popeye are, the unfortunate answer would be "Yes." I certainly wouldn't go as far as to say they're in the same league as Pogs, Beany Babies, and Trolls. But they certainly seem to be an endangered species among children. Perhaps due partially to the way video games are overtaking television as the dominant medium among kids today. Hence this post (http://www.goldenagecartoons.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13286&highlight=Saturday+Morning+Cartoons).

[Brandon Panther]

With "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" still running on mornings, and that new "Mickey Mouse in Wonderland" DVD, or whatever it's called, I think it'll be awhile before kids forget about Mickey Mouse and the gang.

As for Looney Tunes, EVERY once in awhile I come across a little kid, can't be more than 6 or 7 years old, that seems to be familiar with Bugs Bunny. I assme it's bcause of the DVDs, because there's no way that kid could remember seeing them on television.

Nic and Marty, I think when the new Looney Tunes show finally premieres, there will be much discussion here at GAC.

[nickramer]

Nic and Marty, I think when the new Looney Tunes show finally premieres, there will be much discussion here at GAC.
Yeah, but all I'm going to hear in this fourm are all the faults.

[Marty26]

May be, in a way, shows like Baby Looney Tunes and Loonatics deserve more credit than we've given them. At least they attempted to bring a little mainstream life back into the Looney Tunes series. It's better than getting no exposure at all.