Looney Tunes: Difference between revisions

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Originally, [[Artifact Title|as the names indicate]], these cartoons were meant to rip off the sweet, sentimental musical shorts then in vogue: for instance, Disney's ''[[Silly Symphonies]]''. That basing cartoons around popular public-domain songs -- or, even better, ones the studio already owned -- was a fast and relatively cheap way of producing them didn't hurt any, either.
Originally, [[Artifact Title|as the names indicate]], these cartoons were meant to rip off the sweet, sentimental musical shorts then in vogue: for instance, Disney's ''[[Silly Symphonies]]''. That basing cartoons around popular public-domain songs -- or, even better, ones the studio already owned -- was a fast and relatively cheap way of producing them didn't hurt any, either.


The first set, ''Looney Tunes'', was introduced with 1930's ''"[[Sinkin in The Bathtub]]"'' featuring [[Uncle Tomfoolery|minstrel-like]] mascot [[Bosko the Talk Ink Kid]], and for its first decade relied more heavily on recurring characters and thus lower budgets. ''Merrie Melodies'', introduced in 1931's ''"[[Lady, Play Your Mandolin]]"'' featuring the ([[Captain Ersatz|suspiciously Mickey Mouse-esque]]) character "Foxy", were initially intended as the [[Animated Music Video|music videos of their day]], basically animated commercials for the Warners-owned sheet-music library.
The first set, ''Looney Tunes'', was introduced with 1930's ''"[[Sinkin' In The Bathtub]]"'' featuring [[Uncle Tomfoolery|minstrel-like]] mascot [[Bosko the Talk Ink Kid]], and for its first decade relied more heavily on recurring characters and thus lower budgets. ''Merrie Melodies'', introduced in 1931's ''"[[Lady, Play Your Mandolin]]"'' featuring the ([[Captain Ersatz|suspiciously Mickey Mouse-esque]]) character "Foxy", were initially intended as the [[Animated Music Video|music videos of their day]], basically animated commercials for the Warners-owned sheet-music library.


When ''Looney Tunes'' switched to color in 1942, and the ''Merrie Melodies'' line ditched the music around the same time in favor of its own rising star -- one [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] -- differences between the two were limited to their distinctive theme songs, until 1964 (when both series wound up using the same theme music as a result of using a modernized, and slightly bizarre, opening/closing sequence).
When ''Looney Tunes'' switched to color in 1942, and the ''Merrie Melodies'' line ditched the music around the same time in favor of its own rising star -- one [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] -- differences between the two were limited to their distinctive theme songs, until 1964 (when both series wound up using the same theme music as a result of using a modernized, and slightly bizarre, opening/closing sequence).
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* [[Edutainment Show]]: The three shorts, "By Word of Mouse," "Heir Conditioned," and "Yankee Dood It," commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation which educated the viewer on how the capitalist economy works and why it's a superior one. These shorts of course came about in the mid-fifties at the height of [[Red Scare]], and [[Anvilicious|it's easy to tell]]. In fairness, they did at least attempt to make these shorts interesting by throwing gags in between the edutainment, but in all, they pale in comparison to their regular output.
* [[Edutainment Show]]: The three shorts, "By Word of Mouse," "Heir Conditioned," and "Yankee Dood It," commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation which educated the viewer on how the capitalist economy works and why it's a superior one. These shorts of course came about in the mid-fifties at the height of [[Red Scare]], and [[Anvilicious|it's easy to tell]]. In fairness, they did at least attempt to make these shorts interesting by throwing gags in between the edutainment, but in all, they pale in comparison to their regular output.
** 1939's "[[Old Glory]]" is educational as well, though unlike the aforementioned Sloan shorts, it doesn't contain comedy at all. Rather, it's a history lesson on the Revolutionary War and the formation of the U.S., with Porky learning about it from Uncle Sam in the wraparounds.
** 1939's "[[Old Glory]]" is educational as well, though unlike the aforementioned Sloan shorts, it doesn't contain comedy at all. Rather, it's a history lesson on the Revolutionary War and the formation of the U.S., with Porky learning about it from Uncle Sam in the wraparounds.
* [[Eek! a Mouse!]]
* [[Eek! A Mouse!]]
* [[Epic Fail]]: Wile E. Coyote's specialty.
* [[Epic Fail]]: Wile E. Coyote's specialty.
* [[Era Specific Personality]]
* [[Era Specific Personality]]
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{{quote|'''Bugs Bunny:''' (watching Daffy plummet to the ground) I wonder if that silly duck remembers he can fly... * hears slam noise down below* ...Nope, guess not.}}
{{quote|'''Bugs Bunny:''' (watching Daffy plummet to the ground) I wonder if that silly duck remembers he can fly... * hears slam noise down below* ...Nope, guess not.}}
* [[The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You]]: Inverted in ''A hair raising hare'';
* [[The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You]]: Inverted in ''A hair raising hare'';
{{quote|'''Bugs'': Have you ever felt like there's something... [[Paranoia Fuel|watching you?]] Out there, in the audience."
{{quote|'''Bugs'': Have you ever felt like there's something... [[Paranoia Fuel|watching you?]] Out there, in the audience."
'''Gossamer''': People?! *screams and runs away [[Efficient Displacement|through several sets of walls]]*. }}
'''Gossamer''': People?! *screams and runs away [[Efficient Displacement|through several sets of walls]]*. }}
* [[Franchise Killer]]: Believe it or not, this has happened to the series--as early as 1933, in fact. After Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising left Leon's cartoon studio, he hastily hired a new team of crack animators, lead by director Tom Palmer, to rush out three new cartoons featuring his Expy of [[Bosko the Talk Ink Kid]], Buddy. These new cartoons were so mediocre that Jack Warner himself rejected them all on sight, with Leon's studio on the verge of getting shut down. Thankfully, Leon got [[Friz Freleng]] to return to the studio and rework the rejected cartoons into one coherent cartoon, which thankfully saved this new studio from being killed before it even got off the ground!
* [[Franchise Killer]]: Believe it or not, this has happened to the series--as early as 1933, in fact. After Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising left Leon's cartoon studio, he hastily hired a new team of crack animators, lead by director Tom Palmer, to rush out three new cartoons featuring his Expy of [[Bosko the Talk Ink Kid]], Buddy. These new cartoons were so mediocre that Jack Warner himself rejected them all on sight, with Leon's studio on the verge of getting shut down. Thankfully, Leon got [[Friz Freleng]] to return to the studio and rework the rejected cartoons into one coherent cartoon, which thankfully saved this new studio from being killed before it even got off the ground!
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=== P-Q-R ===
=== P-Q-R ===
* [[Packed Hero]]: In "I Gopher You", featuring the Goofy Gophers, one of the gophers gets canned on a tomato packing line, and the other opens every can, until he finds him in the last can. The first gopher tells his friend that he was in the first can and he started at the wrong end.
* [[Packed Hero]]: In "I Gopher You", featuring the Goofy Gophers, one of the gophers gets canned on a tomato packing line, and the other opens every can, until he finds him in the last can. The first gopher tells his friend that he was in the first can and he started at the wrong end.
* [[Pain Powered Leap]]: A common source of humor; ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' is likely the [[Trope Codifier]].
* [[Pain-Powered Leap]]: A common source of humor; ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' is likely the [[Trope Codifier]].
* [[Panty Shot]]: Honey and Cookie in some of the black-and-white Looney Tunes shorts, Red Riding Hood in "The Trial Of Mr. Wolf," "Book Revue" and "Little Red Rabbit Hood," Agnes in "Nasty Quacks," the ice skater in "Land Of The Midnight Fun." Plus a rather unsettling one of Elmer in drag in "The Big Snooze" and even more eyesore from Witch Hazel in '"Bewitched Bunny" and "A Witch's Tangled Hare" and the Scotsman in "My Bunny Lies Over The Ocean."
* [[Panty Shot]]: Honey and Cookie in some of the black-and-white Looney Tunes shorts, Red Riding Hood in "The Trial Of Mr. Wolf," "Book Revue" and "Little Red Rabbit Hood," Agnes in "Nasty Quacks," the ice skater in "Land Of The Midnight Fun." Plus a rather unsettling one of Elmer in drag in "The Big Snooze" and even more eyesore from Witch Hazel in '"Bewitched Bunny" and "A Witch's Tangled Hare" and the Scotsman in "My Bunny Lies Over The Ocean."
** Another one in "Uncle Tom's Bungalow."
** Another one in "Uncle Tom's Bungalow."
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=== Y-Z ===
=== Y-Z ===
* [[Youtube Poop]]: The short ''Daffy Duck in Hollywood'' is the [[Trope Maker]] -- in 1938, no less!
* [[YouTube Poop]]: The short ''Daffy Duck in Hollywood'' is the [[Trope Maker]] -- in 1938, no less!


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[[Category:Western Animation]]
[[Category:Western Animation]]
[[Category:Films of the 1950s]]
[[Category:Films of the 1950s]]
[[Category:Looney Tunes]]
[[Category:Cartoon Network]]
[[Category:Cartoon Network]]
[[Category:Looney Tunes in the Fifties]]
[[Category:Looney Tunes in the Fifties]]
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[[Category:Nickelodeon]]
[[Category:Nickelodeon]]
[[Category:Zany Cartoon]]
[[Category:Zany Cartoon]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]