Keeping up the Christmas theme we've got going here, I think it's appropriate to bring attention to this short from 1979. It was originally part of the "Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales" TV special, which can be found in its entirety on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection 5 DVD.
This short marked the first time anyone other than Robert McKimson (who passed away two years prior) had attempted to do a cartoon with the Tasmanian Devil. Friz Freleng stepped up to the plate and knocked one out of the park. While some of the animation is a little wonky, Freleng's wit and timing are still there, and Taz is put to good use as an accidental Santa Claus imposter. The fun of it lies with the idea of Bugs immediately seeing through Taz's disguise, but playing along anyway. The special isn't shown much anymore, in fact it will be shown on TV in its entirety for the first time in at least 5 years on Cartoon Network this month. But this particular short has been rerun many times over the years, and helped establish the once-obscure Taz as one of Warner bros.' most popular stars.
4 comments:
It's amazing how well that holds up; it doesn't suffer any of the excesses that tend to plague older animation director's work (Daffy Duck and the Return of the 24 &1/2 Century comes to mind) and the timing crackles. Love the Sinatra joke in there, too.
The animation on the two pilots always looked Hanna-Barbara-ish to me.
Also, I think this was the last time Speedy Gonzales appeared in a short.
You know, this was actually made by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and as a result it resembles a typical 1964-1966 Looney Tunes short, or even a Pink Panther cartoon from 1978! They even had Doug Goodwin doing the music like in the late 1970s DePatie-Freleng productions, though I dig his groovy rendition of "Jingle Bells" when Bugs first greets Taz at the fireplace.
I don't know why, but I don't think Friz himself directed this. Supervising it, sure, but directing it?
If you notice in "Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales" closing credits, 4 guys are credited as "sequence directors". Why do I have a felling one of them actually directed this? It's kinda like on how the Disney features have sequences directors, but one guy is credited as one director, you know?
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