"Tooning Out"
(originally published on www.countgore.com)

The recent release of Spiderman onto the big screen has me thinking back this week. 

For a time, way back in the dark days of the late 60's and early 70's, made-for-tv cartoons were almost exclusively the domain of the Hanna/Barbera and Rankin/Bass studios. 

While Hanna/Barbera brought us classics such as The Flintstones, Yogi Bear etc. ( and the all-but-forgotten animated sitcom called Wait 'til Your Father Gets Home; an All in the Family knockoff as surely as The 'stones were a takeoff on The Honeymooners), at some point their products became clones of other H/B cartoons. Scooby-Doo begat other mystery-solvers like Speed-Buggy and The Spirit of '76, and shows like the "PC before we knew what PC was" Yogi's Ark Lark crammed every aging character from the H/B stable into one ridiculous vehicle--such as a flying ark. 

Hanna/ Barbera was running out of ideas. 

Pebbles and Bam-Bam, Josie and the Pussycats and a spate of "hip", singing crimesolvers blurred one show into another, even employing the same voice talent. 

Rankin/Bass and a very few other studios attempted to break the H/B deathgrip on the market, but R/B's forte' had always been claymation works such as " Mad Monster Party" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". 

Their forays into line-drawings were even stiffer than H/B's, and obviously made for an international market ( Read: The character's mouths were out of sync with the dialogue). 

Sid and Marty Kroft's live action shows, along with the made-for-theaters Warner Brothers shorts and oldies-but-goodies from Walter Lantz ( Woody Woopecker, Heckle and Jeckyl ), Harvey (Casper, Lil' Lulu), Jay Ward ( Bullwinkle, George of the Jungle, Superchicken, Underdog) and those gawdawful yet loveable Marvel "scan and pan" serials occasionally broke up the monotony.

Weekdays were generally the same fare, with Speed Racer immediatly coming to mind as a rarity among reruns -- and Speed went into reruns and then disappeared too quickly. 

* As a sidebar here, a busybody organization called Action for Children's Television got Speed Racer, Ultraman, and even The Lil' Rascals shelved. Bugs Bunny was attacked as being too violent and possibly even "ambiguously gay". Our local cartoon show/horror show host ,Dr. Creep, went to Washington twice (along with others such as Captain Kangaroo himself, Bob Keeshan, and Burt Tilstrom, the puppeteer from Kukla,Fran and Ollie) to speak in support and defense of children's tv. ACT won the fight by default brought about by the local stations rolling over and offering little or no support. We'll definitely be talking with Dr. Creep and hopefully Count Gore (?) about the whole topic of "the death of local tv" in an upcoming article.

 Anyway, the future of the tv cartoon--and kid's tv in general--was looking pretty bleak. 

That was argueably the point when the new generation of kids-at-heart had taken all they could take. 

The mid-80's saw CBS taking a chance with Ralph Bakshi's take on Mighty Mouse and Pee-Wee's Playhouse hitting the air -- to the delight of fans and the horror of ACT-like "action groups" everywhere. I remember one particular episode of Mighty Mouse inwhich our hero is trapped inside his television and forced to deal with Scooby, The (cartoon) Ghostbusters, and every other tired piece of animation that was glutting the airwaves at that time. 

It was a breath of fresh air, and also Bakshi's way of saying, "Look out, the times they are a changin'...". 

(Hey, Bakshi is a child of the 60's. He MIGHT quote Dylan!) 

Change the times did, and so did the face of the cartoon on television. 

Soon The Simpsons grew out of a series of crude vignettes from The Tracey Ullman Show, former Bakshi-ite John Kricfalluci brought Ren and Stimpy to Nickelodeon, Beavis and Butthead burned up MTV, and the floodgates were officially open. 

Cartoons today have found their way back to walking that fine line of not just being for the kids, but truly for the whole family. In the tradition of Warner Bros., Jay Ward, and yes, even Disney, there are jokes in today's 'toons that are aimed squarely at Mom and Dad. The jokes and storylines have levels and make social commentary that the parents can enjoy today, and the kids will grow into tomorrow. 

This is the true definition of the term "classic"; that which will always be funny, and always revealing new levels. I remember watching an old Bullwinkle and Rocky with my kids a few years back. The kids howled at the same jokes that I did when I was their age. 

I howled at all the jokes that went right over my head as a kid -- that as an old guy I now GET ! Well, I get some of 'em now anyway... The point ? ( I always try to find at least ONE in these rants ! ) The point is that there are a lot of fine animated series' out there right now. 

Here are a few of my current faves : -- The Simpsons, of course, King of the Hill, Futurama, and The Family Guy on the Fox network.

 THE FAMILY GUY has been shuffled so many times around the Fox schedule that it is now rumored to have been canceled and the remaining episodes are being used as filler. If true, what a shame. I keep rooting for Stewy to succeed in ruling the world, and for Brian to finally, well, lets just say succeed in his amorous desires! 

The recent rumor of THE SIMPSONS cancellation thankfully turned out to be just a rumor, which Bart poked fun at on his opening chalkboard message last week. Bart's message from a couple of weeks ago, " I will not bite the hand that feeds me Butterfingers" was a hilarious call-back/apology for a slam against one of the show's major sponsors the week before. Wonderful, laugh-out-loud writing on all of these animated sitcoms, and it would be a bummer to see any of them go away. 

Courage the Cowardly Dog, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, and Ed, Edd and Eddy have finally made The Cartoon Network more than just an outlet for Hanna/Barbera reruns. 

If you haven't seen COURAGE yet, CHECK IT OUT! Courage lives in the middle of Nowhere -- literally-- with a curmudgeon of a dirt-farmer named Eustace, and the light of Courage's nightmarish life, the obliviously cheery farmers wife named Muriel. Every week a different special-guest monster threatens harm to Muriel, and every week it is a barrel of laughs to watch our nervous-wreck canine hero risk all to save the day. The writing and animation put forth by John Dilworth on this program are of award winning quality, and if Dilworth hasn't won any awards, he should. Every frame this show is an individual work of art, and an instinctive comedic timing balanced with a sense of impending doom makes the writing some of the most unique on tv today. 

By now everyone has seen or at least heard of SPACE GHOST's latest "talk-show" venture. After years of battling H/B villains in outer space, SG has now settled into a comfy "Max Headroom" styled chat forum where he interacts with real, flesh and blood guest who stop in via a large video-conferencing screen. This show would take an entire column to try to explain, but to attempt an ultra-short synopsis -- It's absurd in the best possible way! 

ED, EDD and EDDY are three young stooges given to broad humor and slapstick comedy, in the time-honored tradition of the, "Get THOSE GUYS !!! " school of comedy. The series is drawn in a rough "punk" style that is reminicent of some late 70's National Lampoon Magazine strips, which is at once entrancing and unsettling. While not everyone's cup of ink, it scores big on the scale of shows that Dad can dig right along with the ankle-bitters. Moms, who are not notorious lovers of stooge comedy, may however come in an switch over to a Rugrats regrind halfway through ! 

(For wholly "wholesome" fare, there is always Pepper Ann or Recess on The Disney Channel, Mom ! They are entertaining and educational without being COMPLETELY sacccharine.)

Spongebob Squarepants, Invader Zim, and The Fairly Oddparents are keeping the Nicktoons legacy moving forward and in a positively hilarious direction over at Nickelodeon. 

SPONGEBOB and his menagerie of aquatic friends live under the sea, along with one landlubber friend -- a squirrel named Patti in a diver's suit. This is a gentle show, with broad comedy that very rarely reaches the gross point. Spongebob is an eternal optimist who is perfectly content is his job at the Crabby Patty Shack, and a perfect foil for his crabby crab of a boss (Named Mr. Crabs, what else?), and Squidward, Spongebob's congenitally dispeptic neighbor. 

A starfish named Patrick rounds out the regulars as the loveable doofus sidekick. And yes, in case you haven't seen this one, Spongebob is indeed a sponge--who wears square pants. What else would a sponge wear ? 

INVADER ZIM is a sort of update of Warner Bros. Marvin the Martian character. As with Courage the Cowardly Dog, the artwork here is striking. While not a gut-buster on the comedy scale, the writing is quirky and charming. Zim is a hapless invader sent to Earth by his intergalactic comrades who are on the verge of a massive push to conquer the universe. They basicly send Zim to Earth because they figure it's an unimportant place, and he will be out from under foot there--- uh, here. 

Sent along to keep Zim out of trouble as he mounts his attack under the guise of a grade-school student ( with a "skin disorder" ) is a robot named GIR, ineptly disguised as a dog. Adding an element of espionage is a classmate named Dib, who takes it upon himself to prove to the world that an alien is bumbling among them. While Zim is busy being constantly thwarted in his awkward attempts at domination, Dib is likewise occupying his time being taken seriously by no one. Two, two, two comedic premises in one -- and liberally layered with wry wit and an ever-present nod and a wink. 

THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS revolves around 10 year old Timmy Turner and his fairy godparents Cosmo and Wanda, who carry the Great Gazoo torch to Dalaiesque extremes. The brainchild of Butch Hartman, a worker-bee on the Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken and Johnny Bravo, Oddparents is true to it's name -- ODD ! It's hard to know which set of parents the title refers to, Timmy's real parents or his wish-granting benefactors; they are all equally "out there"and funny. 

The artistic style is that stilted 50's drive-in intermission trailer look that served Hartman so well on his other series'; whimsical, overtly white-bread, and pure satire. The irreverant writing holds true to the same form, delivering the unexpected with a whollup at every turn as the fairy godparents make young Timmy's every wish and whim reality-- and if those old Fantasy Island episodes ( or Faust) taught us anything we know THAT never turns out as expected ! 

Wow! 

I really hadn't intended to write a thesis when I sat down at the keyboard today! 

Then again, we haven't even scratched the surface. We live in a heyday for animation on tv, and there is just so much good stuff out there. You'll excuse me for not going into the whole Dragonball Z , Power Rangers, Anime' etc. area. Suffice to say, I think it's pretty ironic that Speed, Ultraman and even Bugs were derided and derailed twenty-odd years ago for being "too violent".... 

By the way, and by way of ending up where we started, a new Spiderman cartoon is naturally in the works! Hopefully it will be even better than the Fox series which ended a couple of years ago, which I really enjoyed and watched with a hangover many a Saturday morning! 

Maybe they'll bring back the old theme this time around... He "does whatever a spider can", y'know ! 

'Til next we swing here on The Gallows,

Your friendly neighborhood Ghastlee!