cartoon

These Characters Are Some of the Best Ever Created

1 Comment / Animation, Cartoon Network /

Of course we already knew that, how could we not? It’s a show about imaginary friends, the kind that are uninhibited by the realities of life or the sober self-awareness of adulthood. Such a diverse range of characters are exactly the kind that kids are likely to invent and animation turned out to be a superb artform to showcase them.

It’s fascinating to me to see how such superficially simple characters can often have many, many different levels of personas and traits. Of the core group, not one of them could be considered ‘simple’. What was even better was that they all bounced off of and into one another which made for some very entertaining stories.

I suppose that’s what eventually got me hooked. Yeah, the visuals are wonderful (courtesy of Boulder Media in Ireland) and the stories are top notch (thanks to Craig McCracken and Co.) but it is the interraction and interpolation of the characters and their distinct personalities that made me watch it religiously when I lived in Richmond for the year.

These Characters Are Some of the Best Ever Created Read More »

You Know You’re Successful When Someone Copies Your Idea

Animation, Disney /

Here’s an old one for you.

No, it’s certainly not Mickey Mouse and if you watch the whole thing, you’ll see ‘Minnie’ engaging in some things that Walt would never have allowed get off the animator’s table!

From what I can tell (thanks to this post over on Classic Cartoons), it’s by the Van Beuren Studios and features the characters of Milton and Rita Mouse.

Released in 1930 at just about the time that Mickey was gaining traction with audiences, Circus Capers makes it seem pretty clear as to how Milton came about.

What’s interesting though is that someone was copying Walt at all. I’m willing to bet he found it amusing on some level, that as someone who was derided Hollywood for making animated films and who ran up against con-men everywhere he went, was actually being copied from by someone else!

Copying has pervaded the Hollywood ecosystem pretty much since its inception. It goes for other forms of creation too, books, paintings, songs, you name it, if you become a success, people will attempt to emulate you. Of course, the real money can’t be found in copying someone, only in creating something new that people like.

Is copying all bad though? Nah, I don’t think so. I’m willing to wager that the blatant knock-offs only served to increase the popularity of Mickey and Minnie. Walt was right to sue in this case though as Milton and Rita are blatant carbon copies. He won the case, most likely as a violation of trademark no copyright.You can be sure though, that whenever a major studio decides to copy an idea, they’ll have an army of lawyers pour over it to make sure it can stand up in court as an original idea.

In the end, I think Milton and Rita did Mickey and Minnie no harm at all. By that stage, Disney had enough experience as a studio to out-create others and Walt’s eye for quality ensured that their films would resonate most with audiences around the world.

I, on the other hand, continue to await the day when someone copies me. 🙂

 

You Know You’re Successful When Someone Copies Your Idea Read More »

Why Old Cartoons Bring Out The Nostlagia In You

2 Comments / Animation /

Via: TV Rage

As I’ve gotten older (26 as of midnight by the way) I’ve found that the nostalgia for all the shows I watched as a child have gotten ever stronger. I don’t consider myself ancient by any stretch of the imagination although sometimes I really do have to take a second and remind myself that I was watching kids shows literally 20 years ago. That shock never gets any smaller.

I have a fairly decent memory and I’ve found it rather interesting that over the years, I have a pretty hard time remembering the live-action TV shows I watched when I was young. Sure, I remember Sesame Street without bother, but other shows not unlike the kid-coms we see plastered all over the Disney Channel.

However, when it comes to the cartoons, I memory is still quite vivid. I can remember the themes tunes, the characters, plots, enemies and of course who produced them all, including the one below, which I can say I thought was a pretty decent show at the time. Only later did I discover the truth (apologies to Fred!)

Perhaps I watched a few more cartoons than the average kid (yeah right) but it would seem that I am not alone in how I have fond recollections of all of these cartoons, even the stinkers that RTE put on.

I would like to think that most of us have fond memories of our childhood and it certainly seems that cartoons played a fairly large part in that childhood. Besides bringing up the old images of that far away time, old cartoons serve as a great reminder for other happy times from that bygone era.

I can tell you right now that the Pink Panther show brings back a very vivid memory for me of that show being cut right in the middle of an episode for the government’s budget. I was quite disheartened to learn that the budget was not a 5 minute gap in the schedule.

I could leave you with ton of videos of the cartoons of my childhood, but you already know where to look for those. Instead, I leave you with the opening to Superted, a cartoon that used to be broadcast rather randomly on Channel 4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUmJse3UJRY

Why Old Cartoons Bring Out The Nostlagia In You Read More »