New Looney Tunes Look for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the rest of the gang
A new Looney Tunes television series is on the horizon, and the 80-year-old cartoon characters are getting another face lift. Jessica Borutski spent nearly two years redesigning the Looney Tunes characters for Warner Bros., saying, “I gave them slightly different proportions that
emphasize things I always
liked about the characters. An example is Bugs’ feet. I streamlined
them and made them bigger.” When the studio released the news about the upcoming cartoon series, along with promo art, many fans were in an uproar.
Borutski experienced a backlash of criticism and negativity towards her work. Many fans found the redesigns “desthpicable”, or as CartoonBrew.com put it, “embarrassing.” Although some people embraced the new style as being fun and more modern, the media’s attention has focused on the negative reactions to Borutski’s art. Pete Emslie, a freelance artist like Borutski and an admirer of her work, expressed his take on the situation in his blog: “If these designs were of brand new characters with no previous history
in cartoons, I believe that these images would be embraced by the
majority of animation fans and recognized for how appealing they are in
terms of graphic design and feeling of inner life and personality. The
problem of course is that these are the Looney Tunes characters, with a
long illustrious past… Most of us would rather that they not be
messed with…”
This is not the first time the Looney Tunes’ appearance has been
altered, and “The Looney Tunes Show” (the title for the upcoming series)
is obviously not the first contemporary cartoon to feature the classic
toons. There have been a number of cartoon series and films staring
Looney Tunes characters. Steven Spielberg’s “Tiny Toon Adventures”
(1990) was a great success, leaving a fun and memorable legacy. The half
animated, half live action movie “Space Jam” (1996) was also a
profitable hit, starring Michael Jordan and other big name actors. Shows
such as “Taz-Mania” (1991) and “Duck Dodgers” (2003) only incorporated a
small cast of the Looney Tuens, but both did fairly well on the small
screen. However, duds like “Baby Looney Tunes” (2002), the movie “Looney
Tunes: Back in Action” (2003), and “The Loonatics Unleashed” (2005)
forced Warner Bros. to find new ways to revive the franchise. The past
decade hasn’t been kind to the toons, which influenced the studio’s
decisions to reinvented the memorable character’s styles, in hopes that a
new look would attract a larger audience. This, however, backfired.
Baby versions of the toons were too boring and innocent to attract
viewers, and the Loonatics were too edgy and dark for most parents and
older fans to enjoy. The classic Looney Tunes are known for being
quirky, colorful, comedicly
violent, and entertaining for both kids and adults. Borutski’s Looney
Tunes designs are not as dramatically different from the original
designs when compared to “Baby Looney Tunes” or “Loonatics Unleashed.”
Although many of the existing Looney Tunes fans are resisting the
redesigned characters, “The Looney Tunes Show” may be what Warner Bros.
needs to achieve it’s plans for the franchise. Looney Tunes merchandise
is still a decent money maker for Warner Bros.,
and the studio is determined to revitalize its most recognizable
franchise. WB hopes that the upcoming show will promote new product
lines, as well as entice a large audience.
Setting aside people’s
varying opinions of the show’s aesthetics, everyone wants to know if
“The Looney Toons Show” will be any good. It’s obviously too soon to
say, but Warner Bros. released the basic premise of the series. The
26-episode show will center around roommates Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck,
who live in a cul-de-sac with neighbors Porky the Pig, Yosemite Sam,
Tweety Bird,
and other toons. The premise takes Bugs and
Daffy out of the woods and into the suburbs, allowing for more
contemporary shenanigans to ensue. Each episode will be broken into
three six-minute stories, a two-minute segment
of “Merrie Melodies” (in which characters perform in music videos), and
a two-minute CG-animated Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote sketch. The
series will premier on Cartoon Network in the fall of this year.
According to this short description of the series, it seems the new show
will tap into the roots that made Looney Tunes famous in the beginning
of its legacy. We’ll have to wait to see if Borutski’s hard work and
Warner Bros. determination can make
“The Looney Tunes Show” a fan favorite, and restore the Looney Tunes’
reputation . Until then, th-th-that’s all, folks!
They look a bit too cutesy.
They look a bit too cutesy.
were is tweety
I have to admit that I like the Loony Tunes’ new look it’s a major improvement over designs for “The Loonatics Unleashed” which were awful. I can look and see that Bugs Bunny is Bugs Bunny and that Daffy Duck is Daffy Duck, and etc. They look and feel like the characters that I know and love. The female rabbit reminds of Lola from “Space Jam” (I’m not saying that it’s her but it does look like her) but the who are the female duck (she looks like a grown up version of the female duck, whose name I can’t remember, from “Tiny Toons”) and pig characters? Over all I like how this redesign of classic characters look.
I assume that the female pig is an updated (and revived, since she’s been mostly absent in the last couple of decades) version of Porky’s old girlfriend, Petunia.
The show has finished it’s first season. The female rabbit is indeed Lola Bunny.
Spielberg got it right with “Tiny Toon Adventures”, invent modern characters based on the old, with just enough homage to the originals. The other thing he got right was hiring fantastic writers who didn’t just rehash old plots and jokes. They knew how to write stories that appealed to young and old alike, and that will be critical to the success of any new series.
This reminds me of the Sensational Spider-Man redesign. When people saw the first art samples, they freaked at how simplified he looked. Then they saw the show in action and everything worked.I don’t like everything about these designs, but I get what they’re going for and the changes really aren’t that big. I can’t even tell a difference for a few characters. This isn’t nearly as drastic a change as bugs went through in the first few years after he was introduced.
I have to admit that I like the Loony Tunes' new look it's a major improvement over designs for "The Loonatics Unleashed" which were awful. I can look and see that Bugs Bunny is Bugs Bunny and that Daffy Duck is Daffy Duck, and etc. They look and feel like the characters that I know and love. The female rabbit reminds of Lola from "Space Jam" (I'm not saying that it's her but it does look like her) but the who are the female duck (she looks like a grown up version of the female duck, whose name I can't remember, from "Tiny Toons") and pig characters? Over all I like how this redesign of classic characters look.
I assume that the female pig is an updated (and revived, since she's been mostly absent in the last couple of decades) version of Porky's old girlfriend, Petunia.
I’m going with Brandon on this, at least with some of the characters. What’s wrong with the models that made these characters famous? Not major changes with some, but it appears that Bugs, Daffy & Porky may have had some modifications to make them closer to the female characters.
Remember, Bugs (in particular) has changed radically in appearance many times – compare Clampett’s Bugs’ foot-ball-shaped head and swept-back ears to the more rounded head and upright ears of the current Jones-inflected one, for instance.Also, “Looney Tunes Back in Action” is an *immensely* better film than “Space Jam”.
Spielberg got it right with "Tiny Toon Adventures", invent modern characters based on the old, with just enough homage to the originals. The other thing he got right was hiring fantastic writers who didn't just rehash old plots and jokes. They knew how to write stories that appealed to young and old alike, and that will be critical to the success of any new series.
This reminds me of the Sensational Spider-Man redesign. When people saw the first art samples, they freaked at how simplified he looked. Then they saw the show in action and everything worked.I don't like everything about these designs, but I get what they're going for and the changes really aren't that big. I can't even tell a difference for a few characters. This isn't nearly as drastic a change as bugs went through in the first few years after he was introduced.
I have a few issues with the new designs (Bugs looks [i]way[/i] too short in relation to the others, and Elmer seems to have been slimmed down to the point that he somehow looks like he’s either aged a lot or been sick recently), but that’s less of a concern to me than the notion that all the characters live in close proximity to one another. That seems like it would lead to the same problem that most of the original Looney Tunes material created over the last 30 years or so has suffered from: Too many recognizable characters crammed into the same story. Look at (for example) Carrotblanca. Okay, it’s a Casablanca parody starring Bugs Bunny. Sounds like a winner, right? Except that someone decided that almost every character in it had to be portrayed by an existing, recognizable Looney Tunes personality (with the exception of the Ingrid Bergman character, who was a generic female rabbit). When the entire frame is packed with recognizable characters, it’s distracting as hell and it pulls you out of the story.If Elmer chases Bugs into a pizza joint, we don’t need the owner of the place to be Porky Pig and the customers to be Foghorn Leghorn and Daffy Duck and the Tasmanian Devil and Yosemite Sam. We need them to be generic humans, so we remain focused on Bugs and Elmer. If you watch the classic theatrical LTs and Merrie Melodies, you’ll see crossovers, sure. Chuck Jones’ Bugs-Daffy-Elmer cartoons “Rabbit Seasoning” and “Duck! Rabbit! Duck!” are absolutely brilliant–but they also only feature those three characters, not the whole menagerie. The closest those old cartoons come to the cram-everyone-we-can-into-the-frame esthetic is “The Scarlet Pumpernickel,” which is loaded with cameos. But even there, the primary focus is on Sylvester and Daffy, and the other characters are in and out quickly. And that was a rare exception–most of the multi-character theatricals have one extra (guest starring?) character (Bugs and Elmer plus Daffy, or Bugs and Daffy plus Porky, or Porky plus Charlie Dog). Honestly, I think the Duck Dodgers series did it right: They built it around the four characters from the original 1953 short (I’m counting I.Q. High) and created new characters as needed. They didn’t say, “Hey, let’s make Foggy the supercompetent rival captain!” And they had a show that worked. Sure, it met the same fate as most recent Cartoon Network originals that weren’t about kids 15 and under, but it was good stuff while it was on.Anyway. Just my two cents, from the POV of a longtime fan of the characters.
You forgot “Rabbit Fire”, the third Bugs/Elmer/Daffy short.
I'm going with Brandon on this, at least with some of the characters. What's wrong with the models that made these characters famous? Not major changes with some, but it appears that Bugs, Daffy & Porky may have had some modifications to make them closer to the female characters.
Remember, Bugs (in particular) has changed radically in appearance many times – compare Clampett's Bugs' foot-ball-shaped head and swept-back ears to the more rounded head and upright ears of the current Jones-inflected one, for instance.Also, "Looney Tunes Back in Action" is an *immensely* better film than "Space Jam".
I have a few issues with the new designs (Bugs looks [i]way[/i] too short in relation to the others, and Elmer seems to have been slimmed down to the point that he somehow looks like he's either aged a lot or been sick recently), but that's less of a concern to me than the notion that all the characters live in close proximity to one another. That seems like it would lead to the same problem that most of the original Looney Tunes material created over the last 30 years or so has suffered from: Too many recognizable characters crammed into the same story. Look at (for example) Carrotblanca. Okay, it's a Casablanca parody starring Bugs Bunny. Sounds like a winner, right? Except that someone decided that almost every character in it had to be portrayed by an existing, recognizable Looney Tunes personality (with the exception of the Ingrid Bergman character, who was a generic female rabbit). When the entire frame is packed with recognizable characters, it's distracting as hell and it pulls you out of the story.If Elmer chases Bugs into a pizza joint, we don't need the owner of the place to be Porky Pig and the customers to be Foghorn Leghorn and Daffy Duck and the Tasmanian Devil and Yosemite Sam. We need them to be generic humans, so we remain focused on Bugs and Elmer. If you watch the classic theatrical LTs and Merrie Melodies, you'll see crossovers, sure. Chuck Jones' Bugs-Daffy-Elmer cartoons "Rabbit Seasoning" and "Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" are absolutely brilliant–but they also only feature those three characters, not the whole menagerie. The closest those old cartoons come to the cram-everyone-we-can-into-the-frame esthetic is "The Scarlet Pumpernickel," which is loaded with cameos. But even there, the primary focus is on Sylvester and Daffy, and the other characters are in and out quickly. And that was a rare exception–most of the multi-character theatricals have one extra (guest starring?) character (Bugs and Elmer plus Daffy, or Bugs and Daffy plus Porky, or Porky plus Charlie Dog). Honestly, I think the Duck Dodgers series did it right: They built it around the four characters from the original 1953 short (I'm counting I.Q. High) and created new characters as needed. They didn't say, "Hey, let's make Foggy the supercompetent rival captain!" And they had a show that worked. Sure, it met the same fate as most recent Cartoon Network originals that weren't about kids 15 and under, but it was good stuff while it was on.Anyway. Just my two cents, from the POV of a longtime fan of the characters.
You forgot "Rabbit Fire", the third Bugs/Elmer/Daffy short.
I wonder what it is that makes so many publishers and studio execs believe that the best way to capitalize on valuable properties is to warp them beyond recognition.
Oh, that’s not warped beyond recognition. Loonatics Unleashed– that was warped.
I wonder what it is that makes so many publishers and studio execs believe that the best way to capitalize on valuable properties is to warp them beyond recognition.
Oh, that's not warped beyond recognition. Loonatics Unleashed– that was warped.
The hard part will be coming up with new material, without falling into the trap of re-using the gags we have seen for generations. They are classic but we can see them on DVD.
The hard part will be coming up with new material, without falling into the trap of re-using the gags we have seen for generations. They are classic but we can see them on DVD.
The female characters are: Lola Bunny ( I hate that she was added..Hunny Bunny could have been used, she was a classic character), Melissa (Duck) , and Petunia Pig. Melissa was featured in few classic ‘toons including “The Scarlet Pumpernickle”.
The characters all were consistently getting re-modeled thru the 30s to the 60s by each director. A Bob Clampet Bugs Bunny was totally different than a Chuck Jones Bugs, both by looks and actions. I think it will be an interesting experiment. I wonder if WB will stay consistent with their new look on all promotional material from this moment on. Will there be anything out there with the classic look of the characters on it? It may lead confusion to the new generation if its mixed. But then again my 6 year old nephew loves the classic cartoons on DVD!
This fan cannot wait for the new show and a fresh take! Hopes that are too high could lead to disappointment though… Time will tell!
The female characters are: Lola Bunny ( I hate that she was added..Hunny Bunny could have been used, she was a classic character), Melissa (Duck) , and Petunia Pig. Melissa was featured in few classic 'toons including "The Scarlet Pumpernickle". The characters all were consistently getting re-modeled thru the 30s to the 60s by each director. A Bob Clampet Bugs Bunny was totally different than a Chuck Jones Bugs, both by looks and actions. I think it will be an interesting experiment. I wonder if WB will stay consistent with their new look on all promotional material from this moment on. Will there be anything out there with the classic look of the characters on it? It may lead confusion to the new generation if its mixed. But then again my 6 year old nephew loves the classic cartoons on DVD!This fan cannot wait for the new show and a fresh take! Hopes that are too high could lead to disappointment though… Time will tell!
First of all, the Looney Toons don’t need a face lift. They are perfect in every way. The fact that Warner Bros decided to wave their creative liberities all up in our faces is an insult and I will personally never watch an episode of this tripe.
Instead of giving this piece of cartoon history to our children, and our children’s children, they will remember our Bugs Bunny as being some doe-eyed pink outlined baby faced bunny wabbit. He’s drawn the way he’s supposed to be. He’s a smart-mouthed wise guy, not a sweety pie.
Even forgetting the new sparkly indie coat of paint on all these beloved characters, they have changed the entire show, instead of hilarious blocks of unrelated hijinks featuring several different characters over the course of thirty minutes we have Friends plus Doodlebops. Are we going to see an episode where Melissa Duck needs tampons and Daffy has to sing a song about how awkward he feels in the feminine hygiene aisle? What is this garbage they’re making?
I’ll just stick to old DVDs and reruns at 2am, thank you.
First of all, the Looney Toons don't need a face lift. They are perfect in every way. The fact that Warner Bros decided to wave their creative liberities all up in our faces is an insult and I will personally never watch an episode of this tripe. Instead of giving this piece of cartoon history to our children, and our children's children, they will remember our Bugs Bunny as being some doe-eyed pink outlined baby faced bunny wabbit. He's drawn the way he's supposed to be. He's a smart-mouthed wise guy, not a sweety pie.Even forgetting the new sparkly indie coat of paint on all these beloved characters, they have changed the entire show, instead of hilarious blocks of unrelated hijinks featuring several different characters over the course of thirty minutes we have Friends plus Doodlebops. Are we going to see an episode where Melissa Duck needs tampons and Daffy has to sing a song about how awkward he feels in the feminine hygiene aisle? What is this garbage they're making?I'll just stick to old DVDs and reruns at 2am, thank you.
if u need any comments just talk about it to me.
bellissimo il film specialmente quando lola si innamorava con bugs ah che romanticità
I totally love the new designs! I think the new designs are much better than the old designs!!! They also really fixed up Lola!! She’s much cooler in this show!!! I hope the Looney Tunes character stay in their new design and don’t revert back to their original designs!
I think they should have left the characters alone. The designs are alright, but I think it’s wrong to change designs of very famous characters that have been around for decades. What would the show lose without changing the original designs?
It’s a shame you don’t appreciate the old designs, and prefer the angular new designs. However, I agree with you on Lola.