Yodel-ley-hee-ode-ley-hee-odel-ooo-woo-woo

December 18, 2005 12:40 PM

Thomas Timberwolf Late cartoons of Chuck Jones. (You probably want the "play movie" button, not the "play" button). Mentioned previously, but at a new location.
posted by Wolfdog (10 comments total)

Interesting. Really lacking Carl Stalling, though.

But thanks; I was not aware of these.
posted by interrobang at 12:58 PM on December 18, 2005

I claim squatting rights on my own posterior.

Genius!
posted by furtive at 1:17 PM on December 18, 2005

Could use some Mel, too. Can't wait to watch them, tho.
posted by sourwookie at 2:20 PM on December 18, 2005

Some Michael Maltese would be nice, too.
posted by jscalzi at 2:45 PM on December 18, 2005

What is this, the Cartoon Cookbook?
posted by evilcolonel at 3:53 PM on December 18, 2005

Chuck Jones later work was usually pretty disappointing, especially the Looney Toons stuff in the 70s when there was a ban on cartoon violence.
posted by ScottMorris at 3:56 PM on December 18, 2005

I don't know how "late" they count as being, but I've always loved his "Tom and Jerry" cartoons.

These Thomas Timberwolf cartoons are kind of interesting, but it looks like Chuck Jones mostly drew the character sheets for them, and created the characters. And frankly, the characters are kind of lame.

Here's the rundown on the concept, for those who aren't bothering to watch them:

Thomas Timberwolf has a compulsion to yell "TIM-BERRR!" from time to time, and every time he does it, a tree falls on him.

There's a squirrel (voiced by Nancy Cartwright), who sometimes wants to steal Thomas's tail. Why he wants to do this is not clear.

The problem is that there is no existential drama to this situation; it's about as compelling as Witchiepoo stealing Freddie Flute in every episode of H.R. Pufnstuf. Why does she want that flute? It's not clear, and it's not supposed to be clear. It's only there as a plot motivator.

At least in the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons (Jones's masterpiece), there's a motivation: the coyote is fucking hungry. Here, there's not really a reason to care about either character.

Another issue is the Flash animation: while there are many "Chuck Jones moments"—largely due to the drawings—the animation program's limitations don't include what made Chuck Jones's cartoons great: timing versus physics.

This is an extremely interesting post—don't get me wrong. But as far as cartoons overseen rather than directed by Chuck Jones go (for example, all the Abe Levitow cartoons), due to the physics and the timing going on in these cartoons, I can only conclude that Jones had an extremely minimal involvement in them.

One of the great things about Chuck Jones was that he could set up a really good metaphorical conflict. Bugs Bunny—under Jones's watch—did not fuck with anyone unless he was threatened. Daffy Duck's job was specifically to selfishly fuck with other people to get his way.

In these cartoons, there is no compelling reason to care about either of the two main characters. It feels like a Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

That said, thank you for this link, wolfdog; I'm glad to have found out about it.
posted by interrobang at 6:03 PM on December 18, 2005

I liked these more than I expected to. (I had low initial expectations). They're much more wordy than the old Looney Tunes warhorses, and I liked that loquacious quality, alternating with things falling on characters' heads. Hey, I'm simple. Depth of character, there's not so much, but there are some good gags and most of them manage a pretty good final twist (I laughed out loud at the unexpected inversion at the end of the sheep one, and also the interrupted phrase at the end of the beaver one).
posted by Wolfdog at 6:24 PM on December 18, 2005

Thanks, interrobang, for articulating some of the things that made Chuck Jones great. Well said.

The disappointing ones I referred to were mostly a string of cartoons with Bugs and Marvin Martian that made almost no sense. Don't know much about em except that they always seemed to carry Jones' name.
posted by ScottMorris at 11:41 PM on December 18, 2005

sadly, pretty awful.
posted by crunchland at 5:03 AM on December 19, 2005