The new Nik cartoons
Nick Sayer
I liked this one. It was relatively well drawn in a light-line,
watercolor style. Jim Jenkins is the principal artist, as
far as I could tell. "Doug Can't Dance" and "Doug Gets Busted"
were the premiere stories. The show seemed a bit short to me -
with only two stories and a bunch of adds. There was a hiden
moral in each one, but they didn't pound the viewer over the
head with it as is current fashion. Doug looks like it's
made for a junior-high age level.
Rugrats
This one was done in a rougher line style that I don't usually like.
At least the lines didn't wiggle around like some do. Lots of
good perspective shots and point-of-view shots make up for
the odd drawing style though. This one looks like it'd work
a little better for an older audience than Doug would. The music
is neat too. This one could be the next 'Simpsons.' At least there
were fewer adds. Klasky/Cuspo was mentioned at the end, which was
the same company that animated 'Do The Bartman.' They are a
Yugoslavian firm, if memory serves. The actual animation didn't
stick out beyond the actual character layout - which no doubt was
not something Klasky had anything to do with.
Ren & Stimpy
This one is heavy-lined and ink (as far as I could tell). Very,
very weird. There were some animation mistakes (lines showing through
forground objects in particular), but this one is so weird that
it could very well have been intentional. This one is so surreal
it would have made Tex Avery flip out. It got off to a bit of
a slow start though. There are a lot of static frames, but if
you're into surreal humor, this one can't be beat. The humor
is so weird that it is entirely ageless.
WARNING: Watching Ren & Stimpy on Acid may cause psychosis.
I don't know whether I like Doug or Ren better. Ren is funnier,
but Doug is more artistic. But Rugrats isn't bad either.
Let's hope Nikelodeon keeps up the good work.
--
Nick Sayer | Disclaimer: "Don't try this at home, | RIP: Mel Blanc
mra...@quack.sac.ca.us | kids. This should only be done by | 1908-1989
N6QQQ | trained, professional idiots." | May he never
209-952-5347 (Telebit) | --Plucky Duck | be silenced.
Earl C. Smith
writes:
> Ren & Stimpy
>
> This one is heavy-lined and ink (as far as I could tell). Very,
> very weird. There were some animation mistakes (lines showing through
> forground objects in particular), but this one is so weird that
> it could very well have been intentional. This one is so surreal
> it would have made Tex Avery flip out. It got off to a bit of
> a slow start though. There are a lot of static frames, but if
> you're into surreal humor, this one can't be beat. The humor
> is so weird that it is entirely ageless.
>
> WARNING: Watching Ren & Stimpy on Acid may cause psychosis.
Weird is right! Not to mention mean spirited and a total gross out...
*especially* when Ren picks up Stimpy's "fur ball" (which looks
suspiciously like something else besides fur). The plot was a big cliche
too. The show is definitely heavily influenced by the Warner Brothers
and Hanna Barbara cartoons (Especially that Meeses to pieces line--one of
my favorites :-)). I didn't find the show very funny even though I tried
my best to like it. I think it's because the characterizations are
*very* extreme. The animation style is one that I have seen before in
Ralph Bashki's Mighty Mouse show on CBS, but the Mighty Mouse stuff was
IMHO *much* funnier than this stuff. So,actually, I think that you
*should* be on acid when you watch this one--I definitely think that the
animators were on acid when they drew it... (Even Stimpy was snorting his
kitty litter!) :-)
Earl
Brian Howard
...
>Rugrats
>This one was done in a rougher line style that I don't usually like.
>At least the lines didn't wiggle around like some do. Lots of
>good perspective shots and point-of-view shots make up for
>the odd drawing style though. This one looks like it'd work
>a little better for an older audience than Doug would. The music
>is neat too. This one could be the next 'Simpsons.' At least there
>were fewer adds. Klasky/Cuspo was mentioned at the end, which was
>the same company that animated 'Do The Bartman.' They are a
>Yugoslavian firm, if memory serves. The actual animation didn't
>stick out beyond the actual character layout - which no doubt was
>not something Klasky had anything to do with.
We can't get cable on campus here, so I haven't seen Rugrats yet in
its finished form (I did see an animatic once -- as an intermediate stage
they film the line drawings that they have at that point, matched up to
the voice track; it gives an idea of what the action is going to look
like, 'though the animation is _very_ rough and there's no color, music,
or sound effects), but I can clarify some points about its production.
It is produced at Klasky-Csupo in Hollywood (Arlene Klasky and Gabor
Csupo are from Hungary, by the way; I believe they're listed as
producers along with Paul Germain (who created the show and is the
actual day-to-day producer; he used to work for Gracie Films,
co-ordinating the original appearance of the Simpsons shorts on the
Tracey Ullman Show. He also married my wife's sister, which is how I
learned about all this.)). K-C runs the whole show on Rugrats -- they
write the scripts, record the voices, and do the animation ('though I
believe the bulk of the fill-in work is done in Korea). This is in
contrast to the way things work on the Simpsons, where K-C is contracted
by Gracie to produce the animation given the scripts and voice tracks.
In both cases, though, it is definitely the artists at K-C who deserve
the credit for the character layout.
-- Brian Howard (bho...@neon.stanford.edu)
Erik Olson
>This one was done in a rougher line style that I don't usually like.
>At least the lines didn't wiggle around like some do. Lots of
>good perspective shots and point-of-view shots make up for
>the odd drawing style though. This one looks like it'd work
>a little better for an older audience than Doug would. The music
>is neat too. This one could be the next 'Simpsons.' At least there
>were fewer adds. Klasky/Cuspo was mentioned at the end, which was
>the same company that animated 'Do The Bartman.' They are a
>Yugoslavian firm, if memory serves. The actual animation didn't
>stick out beyond the actual character layout - which no doubt was
>not something Klasky had anything to do with.
Klasky-Csupo Yugoslovian? I always thought they were hardcore american
animators. They not only did "Do the Bartman", they are the animation
studio that does ALL the Simpsons-related stuff (though they send out
to Wang for lots of it, it seems). Hey, Nick, did you catch Kath Souci
doing the kid voices?
--
Erik D. Olson don...@milton.u.washington.edu
Quoth the raven... "Eat my shorts!" "BART!!!"
Felix Lee
and Hobbes, Muppet Babies, Bobby's World, Little Rosie, etc. It's an
idea that works well in animation, and there's life in it yet, but
it's becoming another cartoon cliche.
Doug is older than the run-of-the-mill, a junior-high kid. The other
characters seemed unreal, caricatures of School Bully, First Love,
Best Friend, etc. This is reasonable, given that everything is shown
from Doug's point of view, but it might get tiresome.
Rugrats. I liked this. It's told from the point of view of a baby,
just past the toddling stage. Many of the scenes are drawn from the
baby's pov. The opening sequence is a dizzying continuous pov shot.
The babies in this aren't real babies, somewhat like the way Chip and
Dale aren't real chipmunks. The babies' actions are consistent with
real babies, but the cartoon provides them with rationales. They talk
to each other, though not to adults, and they're fairly intelligent.
Ren & Stimpy. Surreal. Cliched. I don't know if I like it yet.
--
Felix Lee fl...@cs.psu.edu
Nicholas C. Hester
Smith) says:
>
>my favorites :-)). I didn't find the show very funny even though I tried
>my best to like it. I think it's because the characterizations are
>*very* extreme. The animation style is one that I have seen before in
>Ralph Bashki's Mighty Mouse show on CBS, but the Mighty Mouse stuff was
>IMHO *much* funnier than this stuff. So,actually, I think that you
Oh, C'mon!! Even my 70 year old mother was laughing her ass off! And
she never follows the same humor I do. :) I think that Ren & Stimpy
were the best animated and scripted of the Nick stuff.
>*should* be on acid when you watch this one--I definitely think that the
>animators were on acid when they drew it... (Even Stimpy was snorting his
>kitty litter!) :-)
Yeah, but the best was where Ren was trying to chew Gritty Kitty Catlitter,
and the huge smile on his face almost made me roll off of the couch! Perfect!
-+- -+
Nicholas C. Hester | |
ia8...@Maine.Bitnet | "Dammit Jim! I'm a doctor, not a barber" |
ia8...@Maine.Maine.edu | - Furball in 'Duck Trek' |
-+- -+
Ed Whitfield
Series?
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