Bob Bergen interview at Toon Zone

Our friends at Toon Zone have put up an interesting interview with Bob Bergen, voice of Porky Pig, Tweety and others in modern Looney Tunes projects. Apparently they'll have a second part of it soon!

Bob Bergen Interview

"From Hand to Mouse" Commentary

I haven't done the commentary thing in a while, but when I revisited this cartoon recently, I just had to talk about it.

From Hand to Mouse-Commentary
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Coolest Bobbleheads EVER?

Coming in August from the folks at Funko are three new additions to their series of "big head" Looney Tunes Wacky Wobblers. Below is the prototype artwork for the upcoming bobblehead figures of Blaque Jaque Shellac, Pete Puma and Baby Face Finster. You have to ask yourself, is your life really complete without Pete Puma on your computer desk?? Entertainment Earth has them for pre-order at a ridiculously low price of $6.99 each.

Sylvester's Nine Lives

No, no... NOT those 9 lives... head over to Thad K's blog and check out a detailed list of all the times that bad ol' putty tat has got himself killed!

Links Galore

Sorry that we haven't had much time for many new blog posts lately. In the meantime, I will cheat and make a post of links to other blogs/sites that have posted some items of interest lately!



--- Juan Ortiz's WB Store is Closed blog has had some fun posts lately, highlighting items from some of the WB mail order catalogs. Among the widiculous...er ridiculous items include this kids t-shirt featuring Elmer Fudd as "Wambo". Also, see the cover of WB's first mail order catalog featuring Bugs, Tweety, the Road Runner, Batman and... Gumby??? (How'd HE get in there?).

--- This past weekend was the final broadcast of the Kids WB programming block (well, at least under the "Kids WB" name)... and nobody really seemed to notice (I guess it's like the old saying, "If a tree falls in the woods..."). The Platypus Comix website has put up a tribute featuring history, print ads, and many videos spanning the entire lifespan of the block. Look for many appearances (via recycled cartoon clips) of the Looney Tunes characters and remember how at one point Warner Bros. actually seemed proud to have their "biggest stars" in their new home.

--- J.E. Daniels has posted a comic book story featuring the Tasmanian Devil meeting up with Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

Bugs Bunny Pinball

I don't know the story behind this, other than it was a tie-in with Bugs Bunny's 50th Birthday. But I want one now.

Bugs Bunny Pinball

1st Looney Tunes comic book appearance on Ebay

Do you like Looney Tunes? Do you like comic books? Do you have $2,299.99 lying around somewhere? (Check the couch cushions and the cup-holders in your cars, folks.) If so, you could own a copy of the first issue of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies comics from 1941. Just think, back then it only cost a dime!

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies #1

Kids WB Daffy Duck Show

Here's yet another flashback to the WB Network for you. In late 1996, to fill a gap in the Saturday morning schedule left by the cancellation of low-rated cartoons such as Freakazoid and to tie-in with the newly released movie Space Jam, Kids WB hastily assembled a compilation of classic Looney Tunes and called it The Daffy Duck Show. The show lasted 13 episodes, each containing two Daffy cartoons with one non-Daffy short in-between (usually featuring Sylvester or Foghorn). Possibly noteworthy for being the first network TV Looney Tunes show that mixed the Turner-owned "pre-1948" cartoons with the Warner-owned "post-1948" package.

The "hip" 30-second opening is below (the first couple seconds are chopped off, but you aren't missing much... just recycled footage of Daffy asking "Hey bud, ever see a duck jam?"). Note the space motif and constant references to "jammin'" in case you somehow missed that this was Space Jam promotion. Speaking of recycled footage, where does that bit of new-ish looking animation at the end (Daffy saying "This duck is in the house!") come from? I can't put my finger one it. Here it is:

Speed Racer Vs. the Road Runner

Just in time to tie-in with the brand-new Speed Racer movie, the folks at Time Warner Cable have put together this new ad featuring the Mach 5 in a race with a CGI Road Runner.

Cat and Birdie Warneroonie Super Looney Big Cartoonie Show

Here are 2 opening variations (they made at least three) of possibly the worst cartoon compilation show ever produced. To make room for Pokemon and other garbage in the late 90's, Kids WB decided to throw all of their original comedy cartoons together into one show. It was usually an hour long and combined segments from Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Looney Tunes, Pinky and the Brain, and Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. It was eventually cut down to a half-hour, with Looney Tunes and Sylvester and Tweety dropped altogether.

They must've had higher hopes for it than they carried out. There was even a series of bridging segments featuring "Karen and Kirby", The two kids who controlled the pinball machine in the opening. Though forgettable, they had the distinction of being created by our pal Jerry Beck.

Fans on the Toon Zone message boards used to have a field day with this, coming up with ridiculously long names for it (and the WB must have too, considering how often they changed it.)

"The Major Lied Til Dawn" (1938)

Here's a Frank Tashlin cartoon you don't see very often. It's an unusual cartoon for its time, and the always-clever Tashlin uses it to parody everything from safari pictures to "old timers telling tall tales" stories to Popeye. Seriously. It's actually not too far from a cartoon series that would appear over 30 years later, Total TV's "Commander McBragg".