Scooby-Doo! Theatrical animated movie just announced

[Dacey]

Zoinks!

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/4 ... ated-movie

[LotsoA113]

Not only that, but apparently this could be part of a "Hanna-Barbara Cinematic Universe", with CG-animated movies based on Scooby-Doo, Flintsones, Jetsons and Tom & Jerry all being a part of that universe.

[EricJ]

Not only that, but apparently this could be part of a "Hanna-Barbara Cinematic Universe", with CG-animated movies based on Scooby-Doo, Flintsones, Jetsons and Tom & Jerry all being a part of that universe.

Yeah, Warner's leading the studio charge to think that "If we have a recognizable brand-name, it's time for the Universe" in the hopes of solving the Mystery of Disney/Marvel--
Cue the next 20-year attempt for Universal to do a Monsters-mashup movie in...3...2...

(Of course, it doesn't help that the two Scooby movies we did get don't help the "universe" plans any.)

[Ben]

The first two (three?) Scoobies won't have anything to do with this new universe, and the Yogi Bear film doesn't seem to either, though that's the tone they'll go for with these.

And, is it me, or does the thought of Tom & Jerry being included feel wrong? Fine to do their own films and such, but they were never part of an HB "universe"...only that they got lumped in when WB got their hands on the MGM catalog. T&J should be treated to separately to anything that came after 1958.

[droosan]

Tom & Jerry are very much a part of the 'H-B universe', IMHO.



Besides their shared creator/directors, most of the animation staff from the M-G-M shorts helped craft H-B TV cartoons for over three decades .. Ken Muse worked on nearly everything between Huckleberry Hound (1958) through Super Friends (1978), Ed Love was there until the first Scooby Doo series (1969), and Ray Patterson was an H-B exec all the way into 1993..!



There's also the matter of shared characters; despite his solid yellow feathers, Little Quacker (who appeared in "Happy Go Ducky," "The Invisible Duck," "That's My Mommy" and other T&J cartoons) and Yakky Doodle are -- with little room for doubt -- one-and-the-same .. his voice, personality, and even cartoon plots are identical..!

[EricJ]

Oh, there's no question that Bill & Joe took MGM over to Hanna-Barbera:
Besides Yakky, Yogi was the Ed Norton bear who kept dancing with Tom whenever Jerry turned on the music, Huckleberry Hound was the slow-drawling wolf from the Droopy cartoons (with singing Clementine replacing whistling Jubelo), Pixie & Dixie & Mr. Jinks was T&J cat-and-mouse with dialogue, and CN's old ToonHeads show explored conspiracy-theory resemblances between The Flintstones and Tex Avery's "The First Texas Badman".

But yes, when Warner's not beating Scooby into the ground, they're trying to market T&J as Warner's Brand-Name Toon Franchise to rival Disney--
Every time they try to market new Looneys, we slap them for it, and if they try to market new Flintstones or Jonny Quest, the new audiences don't care and the old audiences lean on them like the Mafia.
T&J is the "safe" MGM/HB franchise for Warner to corporately synergize, because there just simply aren't enough T&J fans to be a threat to making new videos.

[Ben]

Okay...point somewhat missed.

To me, T&J are classic era MGM characters - yes, created by Bill and Joe (having reviewed every single cat and mouse cartoon for this site, the title cards were a tad overkill ), but very much inspired and influenced by their stable-mates such as Avery and the kinds of cartoons being made elsewhere, as well as being a product of the full animation from the golden age.

By comparison their television-era creations were totally different in style and execution, and far from being "directors for hire" as they were at MGM, the newly formed Hanna-Barbera company owned all their output as an independent. These characters may well share personalities, writers, designers or voice talent from their older days, but this was just HB pulling on old contacts and reusing good concepts.

In terms of technique and tone, T&J were totally different in style to the later TV shows, as well as owned by different companies (one only needs to look at HB's own later TV attempt to bring back T&J and the flat, lifeless feel those programs have opposed to the theatrical shorts). It was only when Ted Turner bought up the MGM library and then the HB libraries to create TCM and Cartoon Network that the cartoons fell under the one roof again, although even then it was only when Warners realised they then owned both when they bought Turner's that they started being labeled as HB characters.

Yes, they always were...but they were of a different time and style, and arguably of a different kind of Bill and Joe's thinking in terms of the business of animation. Just as Disney has Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and its own properties but doesn't mix them up in filmed environments, there's a similar clear distinction between T&J and the later limited animation characters defined by their necktie designs and more smart aleck dialogue.

Just, y'know, sayin'.

[droosan]

Hence, why I'd started off my post with "IMHO".


Compare early H-B TV era cartoons with the 'Golden Age' 1940s Tom & Jerry's .. yes; I'd agree, there is a world of difference in tone.

But compare Huck, Yogi & etc to H-B and Avery-directed 1950s M-G-M shorts, and the difference is mainly -- almost entirely (again: IMO) -- due to budget & schedule. The largely-suburban settings, generally wackier plots and stylized 'quasi-limited' animation seem to lead directly from one to the other.

No doubt, H-B did not 'own' Tom & Jerry .. and thus were forced to create an entirely new stable of characters for television. But their two decades of M-G-M experience informed much of what they did end up doing.

However -- if T&J had somehow wound-up in their hands at the time -- it probably would've looked and sounded almost exactly like Pixie & Dixie.


It was not my intention to come across as 'patronizing', Ben; I apologize if my post seemed that way. I chopped the T&J title cards image in half, due to your comment.

I love cartoon title cards (including those of the early H-B TV toons); I have a directory crammed-full of 'em..!


--------------------------------

As to Warner's decision to 're-label' T&J as H-B characters (which -- AFAIK -- they have never done 'officially') .. I obviously agree with it, but I do understand your take on the subject.

But consider that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (at least, as-seen in early Disney-produced Mintz cartoons) is now actually 'officially' a Disney character again. Is this not a similar situation..?


--------------------------------

We now return to our just-announced Scooby Doo theatrical animated movie discussion .. (maybe)

[Ben]

Not all directed at you, Droo!

I love title cards too, and always appreciate seeing them. I would say, though, that even the 50s Avery shorts have more visual movement in them, and super dynamic key frames, over the more static TV cartoons. HB's later stuff was always more about the writing, puns and character voices than their or Avery's MGM stuff. Creator sharing apart, there's just a world of difference between them for me, and I'll leave it at that.

WB may not have officially brought T&J together with the rest of the HB stable so far, but the DVD Spotlight Collection series were clearly labeled as such, in keeping with their HB branded sleeves.

Oswald: interesting point, although those cartoons were always "Walt's" and Mintz had no creative input - indeed he was on the other coast of America. Although he stumped up the cash, the character and cartoons were all Disney's (and Iwerks), produced in the same way as the Alice films and early Mickeys, and in the same style. Disney may not have owned the copyright, but the films were "his" and he made them independently on commission for Mintz, somewhat differently to how Bill and Joe were effectively just staffers in MGM's cartoon unit. On the flipside, while I consider Oswald to be an early Disney character like Julius The Cat, I would not consider Lantz' later take on the Oswald character or those cartoons to have any place in any "official" line-up.

[Randall]

Plus, T&J just appeared in a movie together with Jonny Quest, which seemed quite odd to me. The universe sharing has already begun.

[EricJ]

Yeah, was about to mention that--
They've used T&J to cross-market every other Warner product (Sherlock Holmes, Wizard of Oz), so again, they're the "safe" Warner-toon icons to lead into Scooby and H-B.

Still, good thing they're getting back to respecting Jonny Quest again--
Used to be, during the Great Cartoon Network Bullying of '00, the two H-B shows they DIDN'T dare touch were the Flintstones and JQ.
Until they started showing Venture Bros., of course.

[Ben]

Don't forget there is supposedly the "serious" live-action Quest movie happening as well, though I wonder if this will now fold into these new films...?

The T&J "team-ups" just seem like DTV fodder to me: they're just product that fills a gag and makes use of various MGM properties that WB owns (but notice we haven't had any cross-pollination between Looney Tunes and DC Comics in these outings). I actually quite liked the Wizard Of Oz one, but it was still inconsequential ultimately.

Just feels like there's a DC universe, a Looney Tunes one, MGM (sure, do mashes of T&J and Droopy, etc...) and a HB one, but "fun" things aside (like November's awesome DC-Looney cover mixes that Rand just sent me the link for - see below), they feel like they shouldn't really merge. Or go the whole hog and splash them all in, Lego Movie style...but even that had a reason why they could all do-exist together.

Those variant DC comics covers:
http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/ ... /dcnov.htm

[Randall]

If you liked those, then check out these images from the Superman/Bugs crossover miniseries from last decade:

http://www.google.ca/search?q=superman+ ... 9991278685

Then there's the current Scooby team-up comic, where he meets various Super Friends and H-B characters.

[Ben]

Some of those are too bizarre to get my head around, but Flash and Speedy...haha!

[gaastra]

Cast confirmed for animated Scooby-doo/ Hanna-barbera Crossover film! Captain caveman confirmed and dasterly and muttley confirmed as well.


https://www.comicbookmovie.com/animated ... an-a166863