Cartoon Logic Episode 32: Tex Avery's Screwball Classics Vol. 3
Cartoon Logic
Yes, at long last, the long-anticipated return of the only good classic cartoon podcast! We break down last fall's surprise disc from Warner Archive of the remaining releasable MGM Tex Avery cartoons. It's a cross-selection of some of the finest, wildest animated shorts ever made - and find out what Bob's personal favorite Tex short is to boot!
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Cartoon Logic Episode 31: The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blu-Ray Blow-Out (Part 2)
Cartoon Logic
It's the conclusion of our Bugs Bunny 80th Birthday Blu-Ray review! Our favorite cartoon hero runs on autopilot with Friz Freleng, Bob McKimson, and (occasionally on this set) Chuck Jones trying to keep interest in Bugs alive. We do see some bright moments with a few masterful Yosemite Sam encounters, countered with more TV parodies and cheaters than one can humanly stomach. Also: possibly the shortest dissection of What's Opera, Doc? ever recorded on human record.
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Cartoon Logic Episode 30: The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blu-Ray Blow-Out (Part 1)
Cartoon Logic
November's Blu-ray release of Bugs Bunny cartoons is so jam-packed with Technicolor animated perfection we have to do two episodes about it! In part one, we discuss what made the character take off immediately, and all the highlights of the set's first disc of 1940s cartoons, in which very different filmmakers managed to have individual takes on Bugs, yet maintain a singular vision that made him Warner Animation's eternal foundation.
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Cartoon Logic Episode 29: Tex Avery Screwball Classics Vol. 2
Cartoon Logic
We discuss the newest Tex Avery collection from Warner Archive! Despite some substandard presentation, the laughs come faster and furious in this volume, thanks in no small part to animator Mike Lah and MVP Spike. Immortal works like Little Rural Riding Hood and Magical Maestro headline this volume, with Droopy in peak (and non-peak) form. Witness in real time as Tex literally snaps and falls back on softer, designy humor. You'd have to be a real screwball not to love this disc - or listen!
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Cartoon Logic Episode 28: Hanna-Barbera (The Flintstone Flyer)
Cartoon Logic
Our first (of few) forays into TV animation, examining the early days of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera's "planned" animation empire! We talk about what went wrong at Hanna-Barbera, and what went right in the early days, thanks to folks like Ed Benedict (whom Bob met), Daws Butler, Alan Reed, and Carlo Vinci. We also dissect "The Flintstone Flyer", the first-aired episode of the first primetime adult cartoon show, which shows just how elegantly crude and inventive a prehistoric Laurel & Hardy knockoff can be!
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Cartoon Logic Episode 27: The Van Beuren Studio History with Charlie Judkins
Cartoon Logic
Here to guide us through the history of NYC's Van Beuren Studio in the '20s and '30s is our most qualified special guest, historian and musician Charlie Judkins! Learn how Paul Terry, John Foster, and Jim Tyer shaped cartoons that never came close to matching the Fleischers (despite being right across the street!), and how their endearing weird crudeness occasionally turned out a pre-code gem like our highlighted Halloween-appropriate cartoon, The Magic Mummy (1933), starring the pre-MGM Tom and Jerry.
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Cartoon Logic Episode 26: Art Davis (Two Gophers from Texas)
Cartoon Logic
Warner cartoon legend Art Davis was a long-term animator and had an exceptionally memorable three-year run directing the studio's "D-unit" in the late '40s. We discuss Davis' history that began in the silent era, his many years working on the strange Columbia cartoons, and just what makes his contributions to Looney Tunes history so fun.
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Cartoon Logic Episode 25: Famous Studios Cringe
Cartoon Logic
Because no one asked for it, we're givin' you some CRINGE. We return to the subject of Famous Studios to zero in on what exactly made their cartoons of the 1950s so infamously unfunny. What's your favorite Famous cringe? Herman mutilating Katnip? Popeye trying to seduce Poopdeck Pappy? Just Casper? Or Little Audrey's laugh? Dave Tendlar, Al Eugster, and Irv Spector weren't untalented, though, and could once-in-a-while turn out a classic despite (or because?) of its cringe. We discuss all this and more...
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Cartoon Logic Bonus: Spinach Skrewtny, 1933
Cartoon Logic
In lieu of our regular episode this week, we're offering the first episode of Spinach Skrewtny, our Patreon-exclusive chronological examination of the Popeye cartoons made by the Fleischer Studio. We talk about the character's origins in Segar's strip and why incidental elements like spinach and Bluto became staples of the animated series. We were astounded at how rich this first year was, and just what made this sailor (and the animators who brought him to life) so special!
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Cartoon Logic Episode 24: Ub Iwerks (Hell's Fire)
Cartoon Logic
We return to Ub Iwerks, this time to take a look at his uniquely raunchy cartoons he did at his own studio, like Flip the Frog, Willie Whopper, and the ComiColor series... But other than pre-code filth, did these films have much else to offer? Our single cartoon analysis is the Cinecolor Hell's Fire, the Willie Whopper cartoon that proves Hell is fun, prohibition is evil, and it pays to be Satan's stooge!
info_outlineIn this week's episode, we scratch the surface about just what makes director Bob Clampett's Warner Bros. cartoons so unique and invigorating, and what gives them the frenetic energy no one has ever matched. Our in-depth dissection is of Baby Bottleneck, one of his last and very best films starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, which Clampett himself called a series of "incidents". And just why did he call them that? Listen and find out!