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'''''Woody Woodpecker''''' is an iconic cartoon star, easily the most successful series of the [[Walter Lantz]] cartoon studio, from his [[Breakout Character|breakout debut]] in the [[Andy Panda]] short "Knock Knock" <ref>[[Older Than They Think|Although it's believed by many that ''The Cracked Nut'' was his first cartoon]], in reality it was his first ''solo'' outing, which may have been what has led to this misconception. Well, that and its original title, which was simply [[Character Title|Woody Woodpecker.]]</ref>, in [[The Golden Age of Animation|1940]], to the end of his theatrical run in [[The Dark Age of Animation|1972,]] lasting for around 180 shorts, supplanted by appearances in comics, merchandise, and a short-lived modern day revival, thus establishing him as an animation [[Long Runner]].
 
He is famous for being a prominent example of the [[Screwy Squirrel|Heckler-Screwball]] type cartoon character, up there with masters like [[Daffy Duck]] and, or course, [[Tex Avery MGM Cartoons|Screwy Squirrel]] himself. His eleventh appearance, ''[[The Barber of Seville (Animationanimation)|The Barber of Seville]]'' even made it onto the list of [[The 50 Greatest Cartoons]], with his first solo short, ''[[The Cracked Nut (Animation)|The Cracked Nut]]'', being a runner up on the list!
 
== History ==
 
Time for a history lesson: In the late 1930s, Universal Cartoons' then-prime series, the former Disney-operated [[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit]], was running out of gas. Besides the gradual decline of quality in that series, a new entity emerged in the field of animation to make things worse for them—[[Looney Tunes|the Warner Bros. distributed cartoon studio operated by Leon Schlesinger—aka Termite Terrace]]. As if things weren't already bad enough, the already largely successful [[Walt Disney]] was finding wide success [[Classic Disney Shorts|with his Grade-A lineup of short subjects]] as well as [[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|his recent feature length film]]. On top of that, Lantz had just split his studio from directly working with Universal in order to remain independent from them save for distribution, leaving Lantz to have to front his own cash to make his cartoons.
 
In order to keep his Universal distributed cartoon studio afloat, [[Walter Lantz]] quickly attempted to make successors to Oswald--among them was a character [[Andy Panda]]. While Andy was fairly popular, he wasn't the mega hit star Lantz needed badly. However, things got better. During this time, ex-Warner Bros. director and writer Ben "Bugs" Hardaway arrived at Lantz's studio and began work there, and with his help, Lantz created a brand new star in an attempt to combat the rising popularity of Warner Bros. and Disney cartoons — initially appearing as the villain of the Andy Panda short ''Knock Knock'', Woody Woodpecker was an [[Breakout Character|instant success]] -- [[Composite Character|being a hybrid]] of Classic [[Daffy Duck|Daffy Duck's]] [[Screwy Squirrel|troublemaking]], [[Cloudcuckoolander]] persona and the wiseacre attitude of [[Bugs Bunny]].
 
However, the series got off to a rocky start, and it's easy to see why -- in Walter Lantz and Alex Lovy's attempts to imitate [[Tex Avery]] and [[Bob Clampett]]'s fast paced slapstick comedy, they missed the mark -- the gags were Warner Bros. derivative in a self conscious way (undoubtably due to them having Ben Hardaway as the storyman), the timing was floaty and mushy, and the animation was some of the sloppiest of any cartoon from the Golden Age outside of The Jam Handy Studio. Lovy's haphazard direction and poor pacing often undermined many gags, as well as kept the series from establishing a true identity for itself. Matters improved when Lovy quit the studio and [[Shamus Culhane|James "Shamus" Culhane]] took over directorial duties, and improved the shorts considerably over Lovy's--the animation and staging got notably better (although still marred by sloppy inkers and inbetweeners), Woody's characterization got more clear, and the gags and pacing were improved, resulting in classics like ''[[The Barber of Seville (Animationanimation)|The Barber of Seville]]'', ''Who's Cookin Who'' and ''Chew Chew Baby''. The only genuine criticism would be that Woody was more prone to acting like a [[Jerkass]] than he did in the past.
 
That said, the series truly became up to par when Disney veteran Dick Lundy arrives at Lantz, and starting with ''Bathing Buddies'' as his first Woody short, took over direction of the series from 1947 to 1949, bringing the series to its peak, as the animation, gags, characterization and timing improved considerably, the stories became much more tightly paced and plotted, and the shorts just became all around more memorable and enjoyable as a result, with classics like "Solid Ivory," "Banquet Busters" and "Wet Blanket Policy." Even as Woody's design and characterization was softened as time went by, the series stayed extremely popular among theatergoers, especially during the rough years of [[World War II]].
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In fact, Woody was so popular among theatergoers that he managed to have a much longer track record than most theatrical cartoon series, his run lasting all the way up to 1972, straight into [[The Dark Age of Animation]], about 30 years in work <ref> although Lantz's studio briefly shut down in 1949 and reopened in 1950</ref>, lasting even after his competition had long since faded away and/or branched out to television — this is due to the fact that the Woody Woodpecker cartoons to were made on much lower budgets than most animation studios worked with at the time period to begin with, so the series had little problems adjusting to the rise of [[The Dark Age of Animation]] with rising production costs and the fallout of popularity with theatrical cartoons. It helped matters that the bird even had a hit TV series which debuted in the 1950s, guest-starring Walter Lantz in live action segments, running at the same time he was still appearing in theaters. In fact, Lantz claimed the reason he stopped making Woody shorts was not because they weren't popular, but rather because theatrical shorts had become completely unprofitable by that point!
 
Woody also has a Motion Picture Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. He's also starred in many comic books, including one story that was done by ''[[Pogo (Comiccomic Stripstrip)|Pogo]]'' creator Walt Kelly. He's also had an occasional game tie-in.
 
In 1999, Universal wanted to cash in the character again, so thet tried to put together an all-new show for Woody Woodpecker and his friends, called ''The New Woody Woodpecker Show''. Woody was voiced by [[Billy West]], and the shorts actually had some top talents working on it, including former ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'' staff members Bob Jacques and Mike Fontanelli. The show was rife with censorship and [[Executive Meddling]], as the former staff members can attest to. As a result, this revival was ultimately a failure (however the show still has its fan base), barely lasting around 50 episodes, some of which weren't even aired in the US, although the entire series is on Netflix, with certain episodes on Hulu.
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Despite this setback, his theatrical serials are still fondly remembered by classic animation fans and he is still the official mascot of [[Universal]] Studios to this day.<ref> Though the position was stolen from him by [[An American Tail|Fievel]] from the late 1980s into the 1990s. He seems to have earned it back, though.</ref> While the series was in a state of hiatus since then, a new CG feature length Woody Woodpecker feature is [http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/illumination-developing-cg-woody-woodpecker.html stated to be in the works.]
 
His character trademark has always been his [[Annoying Laugh|unique, skull-splitting laugh]], supplied by legendary voice actor [[Mel Blanc]] (and later, Lantz's own wife), which is up there with iconic sounds like the [[Wilhelm Scream]] and the [[Super Mario Bros.]] theme, known and recognized even by people who haven't even seen any of the Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
 
Thankfully, many of the early theatrical Woody Woodpecker shorts (up to 1958, anyway) have been compiled into a two-volume set of DVD collections called '''The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: The Walter Lantz Archive''' which also has several other Universal cartoon character shorts thrown in, including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (the post-Disney shorts done by Walter Lantz, anyway). The DVDs are also reasonably priced, which is a great alternative to more expensive sets like "Walt Disney Treasures" and "Looney Tunes Golden Collection". And don't try to cut even more corners hoping to get one of those mediocre [[Vanilla Edition|public domain cartoon collections]] to get them. The only one of Woody's shorts you'll ever find in those is "Pantry Panic", which is the only Woody Woodpecker cartoon in the public domain to date.
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You can find more info on the woodpecker on the [http://lantz.goldenagecartoons.com/ Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia.]
 
Has a [[Woody Woodpecker (Animation)/Characters|Character Sheet]].
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== Theatrical Cartoon Filmography ==
 
== 1940 ==
* Knock Knock (Alex Lovy - no onscreen credit / Andy Panda cartoon): Woody's debut, where he is portrayed as the villain of the picture, harassing poor Poppa and Andy Panda. While the cartoon is by all accounts an [[Andy Panda]] short, the amount of screentime Woody gets in contrast to the infant cub makes this a [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot|very blatant pilot]] for his series. The ending is ripped almost wholesale from "[[Daffy Duck and Egghead (Animation)|Daffy Duck and Egghead]]"--no surprise, since the storyman for this short, Ben Hardaway, was a former Warner Bros. writer/director.
 
== 1941 ==
 
* [[The Cracked Nut (Animation)|Woody Woodpecker / The Cracked Nut]]: Woody's first solo entry. One reissued print renamed it "The Cracked Nut", which is what this short is usually called nowadays to avoid confusion. Runner-up on [[The 50 Greatest Cartoons]] list.
* The Screwdriver: Woody's second solo outing, and a prime example of his early screwball days. The short is also notable for Woody getting away with harassing a police officer and winding up getting the guy thrown in a mental home--especially strange for the time period, when [[Karma Houdinis]], not to mention disrespect of authority figures, were strictly taboo in the film industry due to the [[Hays Code]].
* Pantry Panic: Only Woody Woodpecker cartoon in the [[Public Domain]]. This is a particularly violent short, with a starving Woody trying to cook a vagrant cat alive (although to be fair, [[Evil vs. Evil|said cat was trying to eat HIM as well...]]) The short also establishes Woody's role as a [[Big Eater]], something that would expanded upon in later shorts.
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== 1944(All cartoons directed by James Culhane.) ==
 
* [[The Barber of Seville (Animationanimation)|The Barber of Seville]]: [[Shamus Culhane]]'s first Woody Woodpecker short. One of [[The 50 Greatest Cartoons]]. Also the last Woody with green eyes until 1947. Woody's jerk tendencies were played up considerably from here on out, with sheer determination replacing his previously nutty, haphazard nature. He also recieved a major design overhaul in this short, doing away with his original ghoulish look in favor of a more streamlined, slicker design.
* The Beach Nut: Wally Walrus' debut.
* Ski for Two: Co-starring Wally Walrus.
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== 1988 ==
 
* [[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]: Makes a cameo in the ending.
 
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* [[Anti-Hero]]: Woody varies between a Type V and a [[Villain Protagonist]].
** Woody is rarely the true villain, especally in the later episodes which is the bulk of them. In spite of what Jerry Seinfeld thinks, he was rarely the instigator. He is like Bugs Bunny in that he always got the best of his enemies, but they almost always started the confrontation somehow. Where Woody differed from Bugs a bit was tht Woody went WAY more overboard with his revenge.
* [[Art Evolution]]: Woody himself went through several redesigns as the series ran its course. For example, Woody's original design became a little softer starting with Ace in the Hole. His buck teeth began to disappear, as Lantz realized this feature was extraneous. In addition, the beak and feet colors became slightly brighter and more vibrant. He also does not have a big chin anymore. Another full redesign came around in the short "[[The Barber of Seville (Animationanimation)|The Barber Of Seville]]" This design was much more streamlined (just look at the ''The Coo Coo Bird'' title card!) and cuter looking than the previous one, and Woody even got [[White Gloves|gloves!]] A third redesign came around later, this time streamlining Woody's design down to it's bare essence, and making him incredibly tiny as well.
* [[Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever]]: The short ''Woody the Giant Killer''.
* [[Baseball Episode]]: ''The Screwball''.
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{{quote| '''Woody:''' You're not going to pull that old gag on me, are you, son? ''(puffs up as he speaks)'' Do you know what I '''DID TO THE LAST GUY THAT TRIED THAT?!''' '''[[This Is Sparta|WHY, I TORE HIM LIMB—FROM—LIMB!]]''' {{spoiler|[[Anticlimax|And then he promptly walks off, playing his beak like a flute and deflating himself in the process.]]}}}}
* [[Big Eater]]: Woody's desire to get a quick meal (usually on the cheap) is the source for many of the plots.
* [[Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti]]: In an issue of an old Woody Woodpecker comic, Woody goes with his (niece and nephew?) over to Asia to film the abominable snowman. His camera is taken by a band of thieves using the legend of the snowman to scare people into giving them gift to appease them. {{spoiler|And then the real deal come along and scares the band away.}}
* [[Bizarre and Improbable Golf Game]]: Played straight at the beginning of ''The Loose Nut'', in which Woody launches a golf ball...from a very high, thin mound of land.
* [[Blatant Lies]]: Lantz's phony origin story for Woody, which was for a while perceived as fact.
* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: Very prevelant in ''Pantry Panic'' (in which Woody and the cat he's fighting eat a moose near the end, and its carcass is shown onscreen - lots of bones and the moose's decapitated head) and ''Who's Cookin Who?''.
* [[Booby Trap]]: Pulled in the short ''Drooler's Delight'', in which a cross-dressing Woody allows Buzz Buzzard to reach into the top of the dress...only to have a bear trap clamp down on his hand.
* [[Born in Thethe Theatre]]: In the short "Who's Cookin' Who?", at one point where Woody is deprived of food, he asks the audience if somebody could "please go up to the lobby and get me a candy bar?"
** Also, an example appeared earlier in ''The Screwdriver'', when Woody is quizzing the cop he is harassing:
{{quote| '''Woody:''' "No coaching from the audience, please!"}}
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* [[Every Car Is a Pinto]]: Woody has gone through several cars over the years, his earliest one being so unstable that it sometimes either blew itself out or, exploded if it so much as BUMPED into something like a lamp-post--going at not even five MPH no less.
* [[Evil vs. Evil]]: Woody VS. the Cat in "Pantry Panic", and Woody VS. The Wolf in "Who's Cookin Who" and "Fair Weather Fiends".
* [[Executive Meddling]]: Very rare for this series, but it has happened. For example, the ending of the short "Knock Knock" was edited out of the cartoons early TV airing due to showing the asylum staff whom were trying to catch Woody turn out to be just as crazy as Woody himself. This ending was a shameless ripoff of the ending of WB's 1938 cartoon ''[[Daffy Duck and Egghead (Animation)|Daffy Duck and Egghead]]''.
* [[Extra! Extra! Read All About It!]]: [http://bp1.blogger.com/_iugexeWqLbs/R9_73eBP92I/AAAAAAAAEa4/GqaLhgArua0/s1600-h/4C169_39.jpg Used in the page of the Woody Woodpecker comic link posted earlier.]
* [[Eye Scream]]: The beginning of "The Screwball", where a policeman uses his nightstick to poke the eyes of people outside the ball park through holes on the fence.
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* [[Knife-Throwing Act]]: Happens at one point in ''The Dizzy Acrobat'', while Woody is spending the day at a circus. Per [[Rule of Funny]], he walks by the target unaware, and goes unscathed.
* [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]]: Andy Panda, the very character that Woody upstaged in popularity, and (the later, redesigned) Oswald the Rabbit make brief cameos in the short ''The Woody Woodpecker Polka''. In fact, it was Oswald's very last cartoon appearance.
** Also, Woody himself made a speaking cameo along with many other Golden Age cartoon characters in the ending of the film [[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]].
** Woody would also make a cameo in the film ''[[Son of the Mask]]''.
** An episode of [[Sonic X]], ''Skirmish in the Sky'' had one person wearing a Woody Woodpecker T shirt.
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''[[Breaking the Fourth Wall|So are you]]!'' }}
* [[Massive Numbered Siblings]]: In "Born to Peck", Woody is shown to have seven older sisters, although their mother takes off with them before he's hatched.
* [[Meat -O -Vision]]: The shorts "Pantry Panic", "Who's Cookin' Who?", "Fair Weather Fiends" and "Everglade Raid".
* [[Mobile Shrubbery]]: Attempted by the witch in "Witch Crafty" to enter the building Woody is guarding, by hiding herself in a package. Woody [[Genre Savvy|dosen't buy it for a second.]]
* [[Name's the Same]]: "Bats in the Belfry" is a name that is shared with a [[Harman and Ising]] oneshot cartoon from the 40's. "Hassle in a Castle" is also very similar to the [[Scooby Doo]] cartoon episode "Hassle in the Castle".
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* [[Popcultural Osmosis]]: Woody Woodpecker's laugh is so infamous, it alone overshadows the popularity and knowledge of the actual cartoons and is a ripe subject for Shout Outs and parodies.
* [[Public Domain Animation]]: The short "Pantry Panic" is a classic staple of [[Public Domain]] cartoon collections.
* [[Public Domain Soundtrack]]: "Largo Al Factotum" from [[The Barber of Seville (Animationanimation)|The Barber of Seville]], and ''The Woody Woodpecker Polka'' is a shameless mock-up of ''The Philadelphia Polka".
* [[Punny Name]]: Dr. Horace N. Buggy from Woody's first solo short.
* [[R Emake]]: ''Pantry Panic'' must have been a favorite of the studio, since it got remade—''twice''—as ''Who's Cookin Who?'' and ''The Redwood Sap''.
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* [[Screwy Squirrel]]: One of the earliest popular characters to employ this trope, actually.
* [[Seldom-Seen Species]]: Woody, of course.
* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: This and [[It Runs Onon Nonsensoleum]] are combined in [http://classiccartoons.blogspot.com/2008/03/woody-mistery.html this Woody Woodpecker comic] in the moment Woody turns evil:
** "But there's no reason a brainy man can't make a success out of it [crime]! After all, it's a simple formula—[[You Fail Physics Forever|the thermodynamics]] [[TV Genius|of the psychognosis verticillated]] [[It Runs Onon Nonsensoleum|by the metaplasm proves my point!"]]
* [[Shout-Out]]: The obscure animated film ''[[The Magic Voyage]]'' has the bug protagonist using his nose as a drill, mentioning that he learned it from watching Woody Woodpecker cartoons--[[Anachronism Stew|even though it takes place during the time of]] [[Christopher Columbus]].
* [[Sitting Sexy Onon a Piano]]: The Mexican girl from the opening of ''Hot Noon''.
* [[Smooch of Victory]]: Woody gets one at the end of ''Hot Noon'' and ''Socko in Morocco''.
* [[Species Surname]]
* [[Stairway to Heaven]]: Done in the end of ''Wild and Woody'' — Buzz Buzzard has just been crushed [[Anvil Onon Head|by a large object]], and he arrives at a lobby with elevators to both heaven and hell with Woody as the doorman: one opens and the angelic operator says "Going up?" and Woody forces it closed, the other opens and the demonic operator says "GOING DOWN?!" and Woody gives Buzz Buzzard a kick in the rear forcing him into [[Hellevator|the elevator.]] This also happened earlier, at the end of the short ''Ration Bored.''
* [[Stock Footage]]: Footage from the short ''Wild and Woody'' was later recycled for the later short ''Puny Express'', as well as three more future shorts.
* [[Supporting Protagonist]]: Wally Walrus, Woody's later established rival.
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* [[Cloning Blues]]: The episode ''Two Woodys, No Waiting''.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Due to Fox Kids Policies, Woody was not allowed to peck people on the head. However, they ''did'' manage to sneak in Woody pecking someones head once in a blue moon.
* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: There was a Cartoon Network trailer for ''The New Woody Woodpecker Show'' which consisted entirely of classic Woody Woodpecker cartoon clips, and thought that CN was going to put more classic toons on, a reverse of the trend which had seen classics dwindled to just [[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]. Instead, it turned out to be a modern revival of Woody.
* [[Shout-Out]]: In the episode ''Automatic Woody'', the ATM from which Woody is trying to get money suddenly dons the persona and quotations of [[2001: A Space Odyssey (Film)|Hal 9000]].
* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
* [[Thirty Minutes or It's Free]]: One episode featured Woody trying to delay a pizza delivery so he could get the pizza for free. Despite Woody's tricks, Dooley managed to deliver it on time. The pizza was ruined but it was Woody's fault and Dooley replied that he guaranteed delivery, not satisfaction. Not having money to pay for the pizza, Woody had to work as a delivery boy to pay for the debt.
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