TTA reviews in Animato! magazine
Mark Bernstein
The latest (#21, Spring, 1991) issue of Animato!, a magazine for
animation fans, has an article entitled "Acme Acres: An Analytical Analysis".
The subtitle is "A Critical Guide to Tiny Toon Adventures". The author,
Davy Mackey, gives capsule summaries, comments, and ratings of from one to
five stars of every TTA cartoon, short and long, except "High Toon".
It's interesting to note how his tastes coincide with, and differ
from the tastes expressed here on the net. There's a lot of agreement -
of the nine full length episodes that topped the net poll, Mackey gives
seven of them four stars, and two of them (Acme Bowl and A Ditch in Time)
three stars. Of the net's favorite shorts, Anvil Chorus and Slugfest get
four stars, while Bat's All, Folks gets three. He only gives the dreaded
one star rating to two cartoons, Acme Acres Summer Olympics (haven't seen
it) and It's a Jungle Out There (complete agreement - I can't stand
Concord).
On the other hand . . .
The guy has some interesting quirks. If you read carefully, it
becomes obvious that he just doesn't find much humor in Elmyra's animal-
loving habits. He gives Elmyra's Spring Cleaning four stars, mostly on
the strength of it being an Elmyra cartoon that doesn't involve animals.
This also leads to him contradicting himself. He gives Aroma Amore
(Fifi chasing Furrball) three stars, calling it a "very good take on the
Pepe series". Then, in the very next (alphabetical) listing, he gives
Awful Orphan only two stars, commenting that "The Elmyra stories don't
operate in a broad range of plot situations." Given this, it's not too
surprising that Devil Doggie, one of my all time favorites, only gets
two stars.
Only one cartoon gets the coveted five stars, and while I admit
it's one of my favorites, I know there are people on the net that can't
stand it. The cartoon? Fields of Honey.
Where Mackey diverges most from the net is in his high opinion of
the poll losers. Whale's Tales and Sawdust and Toonsil each got three
stars, as did Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow and Who Bopped Bugs Bunny? In
the shorts, No Deposit, No Return of the Trash Bag Dispenser and
Scent-imental Pig each rated three stars.
I've saved the most amazing for last. He gave Gang Busters four
stars. But wait, there's more. His review includes a line sure to make
some netters gag, and I assure you the emphasis is his. I quote:
"*Outstanding* animation, especially in the third and final
act."
Not much I can say to that.
Mark Bernstein
ma...@cimage.com
"If you watch them, you will find her."
John H. Kim
>
> I've saved the most amazing for last. [Mackey] gave Gang Busters
>four stars. But wait, there's more. His review includes a line sure to
>make some netters gag, and I assure you the emphasis is his. I quote:
>
> "*Outstanding* animation, especially in the third and final
> act."
Must be another one of those "I like rubbery animation" people.
Y'know if you watch the old Warner and MGM cartoons really carefully,
they exhibit some of this rubbery quality, but not so much that
I ever noticed before I looked. Kennedy IMHO goes waaay overboard.
Maybe we should start a running poll where people give each episode
a rating on a scale of 1 to 4, 5, or 10. We could do the same for
animation studios as well. I'm curious how many people out there
like Kennedy's rubbery animation, but didn't like it enough to vote
it best studio (hah!) in the poll.
--
John H. Kim | (This space to be filled when I
jo...@jarthur.claremont.edu | think of something very clever
uunet!jarthur!jokim | to use as a disclaimer)
Chris Adamson
Hi again! Can't type too much, because this is transcontinental
modeming at its worst (did I mention Michigan State is Siberia as far
as newsgroups are concerned???)
* Haven't read the Animato! article, but I'm inclined to agree
on the high ranking for "Fields of Honey", and I'll bet I'm the only
a.t.t-t'er to put in in his/her top 5.
What I liked in this one is that it had the most difficult plot
of any of the half-hours so far, and still kept a good sense of wackiness.
Whereas an episode like "Animaniacs!" or "Hollywood Plucky" have just enough
story, or perhaps just "connective tissue", to hang otherwise unconnected
jokes on, "Fields of Honey" has a plot that features actual "stakes"
(such as Babs' sense of self, our sense of fairness (why should
Honey and Bosko disappear (by the logic of this cartoon, that is)),
Honey's existence, etc.) without getting boring, preachy, or being strangled
by its own storyline (all of which happen in "Whale's Tale").
Surprising though, that the review wouldn't wax historic about
ironies involving the "real" Bosko and Honey. We surely didn't see Babs
asking herself, "Say, why am I trying to track down an unfunny character
who evolved from an uninteresting racial stereotype?"
* Did I really have tons of typos in the episode guide? Yikes!
To think one of my undergrad degrees was in English! (Now we see the
value of the spell-checker -- I didn't use it because I thought it would
choke on all the wordplay, character names, abbreviations, etc.). My
apologies to anyone who had to wade through my mistakes.
* If they did a "Tiny Toon Music Television 2", I'd love to see
Elmyra singing "Beautiful World" by DEVO. Don't ask why.
* Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if it were a fairly long
time before we see a home video release of TTA. Ever notice that the
truly wretched shows, that seem to exist more as a marketing ploy than
entertainment, arrive on home video within weeks of their TV permieres?
Take a look at the local Suncoast Motion Picture Company (if your mega-
mall has one), and notice what's available: "Super Mario Bros.", "New
Kids on the Block", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Wizard of Oz" (the
recent DiC/Turner version). All of these are utterly worthless in terms
of animation and storytelling, but some of them have some sort of buyer
recognition, some positive Q rating.
That's why there now on home video, because they're really so
awful that even USA Cable Network won't want them in five years (and
considering they currently run such winners as "Mr. T" and "Pac Man",
that's pretty bad). The manufacturers need to maximize the take now,
because there won't be any next year.
Tiny Toons, on the other hand, would be best served by remaining
a more precious commodity. Remember, this is the cornerstone of WB's
entry into TV animation, spinning off "Taz-mania" and "Elmyra's Family"
next year -- they probably intend to keep TTA in syndication for several
years now, with a small infusion of new episodes each year, so I don't
think WB can afford to let everyone get their own "Ditch in Time" and
"Wheel o' Comedy" and stop watching the real show.
IMHO, this also explains why every station in the country puts
some sort of station-identification logo on every episode. It prevents
taping/piracy/re-distribution. They've also done the same thing with
"Star Trek: The Self-Obsessed and Whiny Generation", which is now being
bundled up for home relase... four years after its run began.
Possible counterargument: The existence of "DuckTales" and
"Rescue Rangers" home videos.
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| Chris Adamson | "This is insane! |
| mac...@leland.stanford.edu | Who wrote this slop?!" |
| (soon: ??@??.mich-state.edu) | --Plucky Duck |
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