"Technological Threat" animation short 1988 Academy Award nominee

[@Lars-ze2xf]

The time, when Handdrawn and Computer animations starts their fight.

[@sanuku535]

Current Japanese animatora.

[@daanimegoatman6683]

And many years later people still won't shut up about the fight between 2D and 3D animation.

[@connormclernon26]

I note that in fighting to keep his job, the wolf became just as bad as the boss that created the situation in the first place.

[@inendlesspain4724]

And here I was expecting the message of the short to just be "technology bad".

[@xPURPLExKILLERx]

I don't think he became "just as bad" since they had different motives behind their actions. Everyone was being replaced with automatons, I see the last wolf representing worker unions lol.

[@EstebanGallardo]

It shows that the ones who display psychopathic traits in the current society are the ones to go to the top. No wonder why a great percentage of our government, corporate CEOs and start-ups are populated pure evil psychopaths. Nice society the one we are living in :(

[@RIXRADvidz]

YOUR WORLD IS DOOMED. if everything is a morality play then you struggle through your every day, despondent simmering in your ire, nothing is good, everything is evil, never knowing you have a choice.

[@Sassy_Witch]

how did he becamse just as bad? Its just machines buddy

[@yellowcougar18]

A lot of practical make-up effects guys thought that once CGI became popular, their jobs were gone (people like Rick Baker, and the late Stan Winston have embraced technology, but love the physical make-up effects). However, they found that their jobs actually thrived. Many thought that 2d animation would survive along with 3D, or even that the two might merge, with one aiding the other. Sadly, a lot of studios have abandoned 2D, and more's the damn pity. It seems confined to TV only.

[@didjargo]

If it helps anything, 2D animation is actually thriving with the advent of going all digital. Things can be done a lot faster now, with better quality and smoother production, than when it was done with pencil and paper. That also means that it keeps the work in the country as opposed to when they used to ship the grunt work over to Taiwan or China.

[@yellowcougar18]

@@didjargo Yeah, I'm hopeful that software will revive 2d. There's some great programs that are relatively cheap that allow one to do handdrawn animation that's amazing in quality.

[@didjargo]

@@yellowcougar18 2D animation does not need to be revived because it never died. Like I said, it has been thriving in the digital era.

[@SuggaGugga]

booma

[@yellowcougar18]

@@didjargo Oh I agree. But I would even say that youtube helped play a part in that. Lots of great animators were discovered via youtube and other online video platforms.

[@SamsonSilvo]

I'm honestly amazed at how well this short combines hand-drawn and CGI despite being over 30 years old!

[@koniket]

Maybe it's traced 3D, not just raw 3D

[@SamsonSilvo]

@@koniket That does sound likely. Texture mapping and shading were both in very early stages at this time so tracing over CGI as a form of rotoscoping was actually pretty common whenever it was used in tandem with hand-drawn. It's how Disney animated the Big Ben gears in The Great Mouse Detective (which came out roughly a year before this) for example. Either way, the results ended up ironically visually aging better in a lot of ways than some of the various examples of full un-traced CGI being used with 2D in the 90's and 00's. LOL

[@koniket]

@@SamsonSilvo That's pretty interesting, I will check that movie out, thank you for the info.

[@dbergerac9632]

Sigh. It was about 1979 when I fished lunch and was returning to my accounting job (pen and ink). A new story was on the radio about IBM introducing a desktop computer for only $10k. I got to work and looked at the 50 people at their desks and decided to go into IT, then and there. A year later, there were only 15 people in that office.

[@rockspoon6528]

When he presses the button at the end... He's standing over the trapdoor.

[@NotASpyReally]

LOL

[@demonicasoldier1770]

He's closing the trap door

[@cezarcatalin1406]

_ADIOS_

[@ernestsanchez5159]

Rest in Peace Brian Michael Jennings 1958-2015. Thanks for creating this piece of animation art. Thanks for being a great friend too. I learned a lot from you.

[@KarsonGameboy]

Aw, How did you know him?

[@ernestsanchez5159]

Karson Gameboy he was my friends dad. Really a great guy

[@vapourmile]

@@ernestsanchez5159 This film is a landmark, that's why I'm here.

[@djm5687]

Thanks for sharing your memories, Ernest.

[@Draggo88]

Notice how no-one points fingers at the boss who works you to death then replaces you in a second.

[@Boogers32150]

Its become normal

[@beemoh]

It's also interesting how automation winds up coming for the boss, too.

[@G-u-z-i-o]

Welcome to Capitalism!

[@dmath1490]

When everyone below the manager is replaced by new tech or more efficient processes than we don't need as many managers.

[@RenGraes]

because the "Glorious Divine Fathead Overlords" control everything. They are never at fault, only those wallowing in their dung are at fault for disobeying their supreme overlords.

[@garytetreault6133]

The design of the characters look a lot like Preston Blair's work when he was with Tex Avery at MGM in the 1940's. He did a good job on this short.

[@MrGoatfarmer]

You had the same opinion as me,I think the dog boss see in the short looked like that one dog characters from Tex Avery's shorts,and style really is like that.

[@PHSPictures]

Yes, you can definitely see the influence.

[@waffleliberty89]

The boss looks like Spike the Dog

[@TakCWAL]

An accurate depiction of a Japanese salary-man in his natural habitat.

[@catiloh6086]

What

[@umamifan]

@@catiloh6086 Let's just say it like this. Work culture, and working in Japan in general, is very rough on the mental mind and physical body

[@airmett8939]

2021 and animation companies are still struggling to combine cgi and hand drawn as well as this short did

[@eddiejoewalt7746]

Much like how 3D computer animation took over old fashioned hand drawn 2D animation= HYPOCRITE!

[@rommix0]

DreamWorks: Hold my beer!

[@scoutart1508]

@@rommix0 IRONIC, ISNT IT?

[@okamijubei]

@@eddiejoewalt7746 And it does not end there, likely later on, the 2D animation likely coming back but very much likely it'll take like one to 4 animators to animate a cartoon in a matter of weeks or months (by average) with a help of robots. (Just like what you see in this animation.)

[@Filbi]

I saw this 20 years ago in middle school and never thought I'd see it again. The cel shading still holds up incredibly well. I kinda wish the dog dude had teamed up with the robot at the end, though. They could have started a new organization where dogs and robots are treated equally.

[@MaggotMaggs420]

Same. They rlly should of done that for the ending

[@Tea-gh8cu]

glad they did not, there wouldn't have been nothing to do xd

[@cafedeloop]

dogs and robots are treated equally. the day that this happens will be the doom's day

[@Teladi]

Reject modernity, return to doge

[@SuperDuperJamer]

Agreed, that might've been cool!

[@ambasfamily]

This looks like something that could be used as Cartoon Network’s “lost footage”

[@junholee4961]

Accurate depiction of what is happening today, only the wackiest survive and reign

[@CuLozus]

As it always has been?

[@rofidel178]

And now with the AI, this film was so ahead of it's time

[@Akira625]

I remember seeing this on MTV's Liquid Television back when I was a teen, which was the last time I saw it because I couldn't remember what the title of this film was. Googled "liquid television wolf pencil", and bingo! Found it again after all these years!

[@vapourmile]

Liquid TV has never been equally, nor has it ever been repeated in its original form.

[@chubbiMommi]

Ah! That is where I I remember this from!

[@DoctorPhileasFragg]

@@chubbiMommi Same, nostalgia was nipping at me right from the thumbnail but I couldn't place it.

[@chubbiMommi]

@@DoctorPhileasFragg right! I went right to searching for liquid tv on KZbin! Found so many clips, and I am very happy!

[@WlanmanProductions]

I like how the animation looks very cartoony-paced, though some the character designs from the wolf looks like they've been influenced by those Tex Avery shorts.

[@synthonaplinth5980]

Not to mention the first robot's face after the dynamite explodes....

[@FelixToonimeFan]

Plus Spike/Butch, Droopy's rival.

[@tapiokadesu8505]

This is going to age really well...

[@the-NightStar]

I'll be honest. Tin Toy definitely deserved the win, and the right call was indeed made. But I mean, this was STILL very good.

[@davidcortina9898]

Tinny the Tin Toy later made a guest cameo in Toy Story 4

[@mistertagomago7974]

Wasnt Tin Toy the one with the uncanny Valley baby? This holds up better honestly.

[@davidcortina9898]

@@mistertagomago7974 I don't think they're in the same universe

[@toastybreade613]

@@mistertagomago7974 yea, main reason it won though was because it was entirely CGI, which was never really seen before

[@aaronbasham6554]

It's a catch 22 Tin toy was technically more impressive than this, but this one has aged so much better. Like, I didn't actually realize this was from the 80s when I first watched it

[@BrianHutzellMusic]

I first saw this decades ago at an animation film festival in Boston, and it still cracks me up, especially the pillow at 2:42!

[@AndrewColomy]

I like how the wolf goes from being the overexploited protagonist to a bit of an antagonist himself to the point where you're rooting for the robot for a moment just because the robot didn't do anything wrong.

[@Zavitor]

If you believe in the AI hate these days, then it was the Robot's fault for existing.

[@austinkub2337]

This was really cool, loved the mix of 2-D and 3-D styles

[@rocketknightx6066]

This short is absolutely masterpiece! It's like I'm watching Tex Avery short!

[@chicagomodzz]

I remember seeing this on Liquid Television on MTV waayyy back in the day.

[@SergeantPsycho]

I thought this looked familiar. That's probably where I saw it too.

[@vendetta1429]

Awesome. The animation is truly stunning.

[@pepelepeau]

Silicon Graphic machines were so expensive back in those days! Pretty accurate story on todays workplace environments!

[@onyx8231]

This is one of the shorts that got me watching Liquid Television. Liquid Television was the reason I taught myself how to use the VCR's timer function. I was 10 years old. My parents told me I wasn't allowed to use the living room VCR because they had to use it to record their shows too. This ended up being an excuse to keep me from watching certain channels (MTV) unsupervised, but I didn't know that at the time. So I fixed our old VCR and used it to record shows from my bedroom then, I would watch them in the living room. It confused the hell out of them. LOL

[@MultiGamerClub]

1988.. Damn thats impressive!

[@dbergerac9632]

A robot on a Segue?

[@4899-m6v]

Technological Threat is cool with hand drawn and CGI together. Blue's Clues and kablam was early flash animation.

[@chillingpaully4137]

This is awesome! That description though, what a bummer!

[@robbiewalker2831]

I know, how did it lose to Tin Toy? Tin Toy wasn't even that good. This short is awesome, because not only was the short easy to understand, but the use of 3D animation to transition to 2D wasn't that bad.

[@DarthKegX]

Rich Moore, Rob Minkoff, and Greg Vanzo all have credits. Geez this is like the fountain head of modern animation.

[@TurtleRhythm]

The boss dog yelled at the workers, and then got tossed like the underdogs

[@michaelbuckers]

Robots are faster, smarter and more creative than humans. Replacing a white collar worker with a robot is only a matter of computational resources. Actually operating in physical environment is still very challenging for robots though, mostly because they need obscene amount of trial and error before they get things right and that's easy in a simulation but you're not afforded that luxury in real life.

[@LostInTheFarmersMarket]

Wow, now this a gem of animation. You really don't see it like this anymore.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

_"You really don't see it like this anymore."_ Have you heard of the word "influence"? There are a lot of talented artists out there who still makes animation, especially here in KZbin where web animation has possible creative freedom.

[@LostInTheFarmersMarket]

@@poweroffriendship2.0 You don't get nuance eh? I wasn't just talking about the animation there.

[@qualia765]

It’s not main steam but if you look for it you see it

[@billyandrew]

Brilliantly and hilariously executed and a worthy winner of the award!

[@0000syuable]

ロボットのデザインが秀逸です！ これを手描きでやっていたのだから、優れたアニメーターだなあ！！

[@whoopsi2288]

Bill kroyer also created Ferngully The Last Rainforest movie

[@SwagHyde]

this looks like it could be made today the 3D doesn't feel dated, it actually took me a while to realize the entire environment was 3D (i thought it was just the robots) and the 2D parts are just as amazing I love mixing mediums like this I'm actually working on a little something that has some 2D and 3D

[@Draconyx13]

I remember seeing this on a pirated DVD of various animated shorts when I was a small child, including two "Creature Comforts" episodes and "The Cat Came Back". Good times!

[@NYankeesFan95]

The boss reminds me of the dog Spike in Tex Avery's MGM cartoons!

[@rodrigotramonte1668]

I thought the same

[@philtkaswahl2124]

This just showed up on my recommendations and, looking through the old comments, it amuses me that I didn't catch any that mention that at this time there was no such thing as todays 3D animation tools with animating rigs and test rendering/animation. Back then you'd have to painstakingly mathematically define the positions of the moving parts of the models (no dragging parts of a rig with your mouse here) and you only saw how it all worked out in the final output. Even those simple models would've been incredibly involved and time consuming.

[@AtlasBlizzard]

A great allegory on how companies treat their workers to this day. Thankfully, one wolf was not having it! Great short! I'm just shocked that back then there were Oscars for animated shorts, yet it took them until the 2000s to create the category for animated feature film.

[@SweeetMJ]

i saw this one DAMN TIME when i was 8 years old...now as 31 i will rewatch it again and see if i can predicts anything

[@DennisTamayo]

Yeah, this is what happens when Nickelodeon rebooted Rugrats for Paramount+.

[@themechbuilder6171]

we are so close to being replaced by computers.. i think the meaning of this animation is to visualize the conflict within hand drawn animation and cgi

[@berthold64]

That MIDI music at the end, epic stuff.

[@Quasimodo1957]

I feel a Tex Avery influence!

[@jangelbrich7056]

So I was not the only one who got a nice random recommendation ...

[@MrCheshireify]

That's a bit shocking how well the digital art held up.

[@krshna77]

2:38 a gem

[@Gojiro7]

huh, its Tex Avery meets Pixar back in the late 80's

[@gregcharles3240]

This short has a bigger meaning in today standards in the animation industry.

[@frostbitetheannunakiiceind6574]

This short predicted the future

[@thex9165]

for 2d animation , the frame drawing is outsourced to China Korea and Japan. For 3d animation, it still needs lots of artists to create models/materials/animating.

[@James-es9em]

It's been a long time since I saw this short film. I never thought I would see it again.

[@gismohead]

Wow, this was a treat for me to see I can remember watching this short in an animation shorts movie back when I was 9 years old I have not thought about it till I saw this video. Loved seeing it again.

[@philollenberg]

Wow, I didn't realize there was a documentary in 1988 about how Amazon treated its distribution centre staff. 🐄🐄🐄

[@CharcoalRabbit]

The 1980’s, the time where 3D Computer Animation was in it’s infancy and was slowly eating away Traditional 2D animation. Rewatching it, the animation looks so good for the time. At various points, I can't tell what's 3D. The 3D reminds me of cel shading used on 3D models to simulate 2D characters. Like the superhero Patrick sequence in Spongebob: Creature from the Krusty Krab. Another example is cel shading on Naruto, Rick, and Morty in the game Fortnite and the characters in Marvel Studios' What if.

[@Sparkbomber]

Aw man, I love the handdrawn animation here. Excellent if random recommend by youtube.

[@GWKTM]

I bet this is one of the earliest experiments at bringing traditional and CGi together, am I right?

[@Helaw0lf]

Some of Disney's 80s movies played around with cgi. Mouse Detective used some.

[@istp1967]

People have forgotten that they do have one advantage technology; they're able to function independently, and they can't be switched off.

[@alanoxford6219]

actually people can be switched off. it's called murder. but you draw a very valid point about human autonomy. for the moment it seems like humans are also more adaptable in general and able to think more laterally (this will change over time assuredly) and I assume it would eventually be possible to create an autonomous robot either accidentally (skynet) or for some purpose (users wanting a deeper connection with lovebots etc.). But for the moment autonomy and human adaptability and lateral thinking are our nominal advantages. The human body also has a remarkable ability to heal itself that robotic bodies cannot exceed or replicate - yet.

[@markmark2961]

Dont worry, they are really working hard to have autonomous AI and robots, it needs time only. Also human error in a lot of places causing more death and injuries than anything else.

[@dannygjk]

Yeah but they can be laid off.

[@Terrakinetic]

People made the machines in the first place. And people can make more machines and make more machines and make more machines and make more machines and more machines make and machine make more and machines make more and machines make more people.

[@nelsonthibeau2050]

Autonomous vehicles anyone?

[@fiereu]

11 years later why tf KZbin why?

[@Bobalini1]

This just showed up in my recommended 11 years later for some reason, but I think its very good! I also think that the moral would have been better served if the final robot had been spared and utilized as an aid after re-employing the previously fired people. An overall good metaphor for technology replacement with good animation that holds well to this day.

[@codenamexelda]

I miss hand drawn stuff like this

[@zacharycardon2353]

Machines may eventually out-do us in everything EXCEPT our creativity. Artists may be the last occupation robots and computers would take over. Also, lay-offs are understandable; but being fired for being human?! (yawning, stretching, sneezing, drinking.) If you're working your employees to death, karma will have your ass sooner than you think!

[@whateversusan]

How the hell did KZbin recommend this video of a cartoon I haven't seen in 30 years...?

[@CoolDudeClem]

I haven't seen this in over 25 years! Never ever thought I'd see it again.

[@carbootstudios2459]

Yes, the Bill Kroyer, the lead animator on Tron & the director of Ferngully. And the Rich Moore, the director of Disney's Wreck-It Ralph. And the Rob Minkoff, the co-director of Disney's The Lion King, Stuart Little & DreamWorks' Mr. Peabody & Sherman And the Brad Bird, the director of Warner Bros' The Iron Giant, Pixar's The Incredibles & Ratatouille & Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

+Henry Stanley The only other name of interest is Chris Bailey, for some that might remember him for working on Kim Possible. The only other film Bill Kroyer was involved with was Animalympics back in '79, alongside Brad Bird as another animator on it.

[@carbootstudios2459]

+Christopher Sobieniak Oh yeah.

[@williamcrowe2576]

Let's not forget to include the Computer Warriors pilot episode.

[@carbootstudios2459]

@@williamcrowe2576 Cool

[@stillbuyvhs]

This is better than Tin Toy.

[@elizabethramirezsierra3700]

Fact: Gabor Csupo was at Kroger Films before he was a creator for Rugrats

[@renatashp]

this movie predicted the conflict of artificial intelligences and humans years ago, they warned us

[@stopmotionadventures4812]

love the style and the way it predicts like 100 years into the future, where AI is replacing people's jobs lmao

[@AetherealGirl]

100 years? More like 30.

[@stopmotionadventures4812]

@@AetherealGirl years? More like sarcasm

[@usmale4915]

What a clever video. I enjoyed it thoroughly! Thank you for posting and sharing!

[@sangregato7831]

Yeeeeaaarrrrsssss, I saw my baby sitter watching this short one time, I think on MTV? But only a few second of it before she shoo'ed me off to bed. Never thought I'd actually get to see the whole thing one day.

[@judahman2823]

I have no clue where I originally saw this, but i just had some old memories forcefully ripped out of my subconscious.

[@lim8]

*casually has dynamite*

[@irvingmuhammad1791]

Saw this a few year before, but couldn't remember the title. Now magically appear on recommended list. Thank you KZbin

[@DanteTube]

What a way to combine 3D animation and 2D animation!

[@AC-ih7jc]

Man, I remember seeing this back in the late 80s at my local art movie house! Great combo of hand drawn and computer animation that stands up over 30 years later! Thanks for posting! FYI, I didn't know they were called "Dweeds". In my group, we always called them "Pencil-Necks".

[@watttv1388]

You spelt ‘dweeb’ wrong.

[@leandrodfcorreia2]

I could not believe such convincing cell-shading was possible in 1988. Great technical job and story as well. :)

[@MacrossSD]

That was excellent. A bit like what Tex Avery could have done with computers.

[@ShaneLouisArmstrong]

We were so close to working class solidarity but the dog would rather perpetuate the cycle of suffering.

[@ATSucks1]

Who remembers watching this on liquid television?

[@chicagomodzz]

OMG YESS! I literally just commented that and started scrolling the comments to see if I was the only one lol.

[@gustavoceballos5327]

This Animated Short has released in 1988.

[@SuggaGugga]

very observant of you fellow title-reader

[@MaggotMaggs420]

@@SuggaGugga lmfao🤣

[@direorange8734]

I find it really timeless in its aesthethics, and love how it also pencils out the mesh grid at 2:58 A really good translation of the new technology into old-school hand-drawn animation. I guess also the cgi was used more to reference the perspective of the geometrical bodies, texture coordinates and so on, but in the end everythig was drawn by hand, no?

[@omgjennyfer9571]

wow! this aged well!

[@machinesbreathe]

Does anybody out there remember seeing this short aired on Liquid Television on MTV in the early 90's?

[@josuec71]

And now we’re in 2021 holy fuck

[@anominon]

The real villain here is the big boss somewhere replacing everyone with robots to save money.

[@RipRLeeErmey]

And, ironically, he himself was replaced with a robot.

[@anominon]

@@RipRLeeErmey Nah that guy was clearly middle management, there's got to be someone higher up who replaced him.

[@4899-m6v]

Klasky Csupo the company that did rugrats. Did Technological Threat in 1988 3years before rugrats in 1991.

[@KnightofFunnyJunk]

Looney Tunes/10 Well deserving of a promotion.

[@Omnywrench]

For some reason the way the robots look and move remind me of the Nintendo 64 games _Rayman_ and _Tonic Trouble._ I think it's their eyes and goofy teeth.

[@dragonslayer101]

This is astonishing, given the fact at the time, animation was on its last legs, and the obscure use of 3d was barely even heard of, yet this animation looks as if it was made 10 years ago.

[@josephsawyer2520]

I think remember this in my childhood; I used to watch this off a VHS tape my step-father owned!

[@liamalexander1423]

Bill did a great job with this one!

[@ManuelGarcia-ww7gj]

Tex Avery characters versus robots. Hilarious.

[@RadicalCaveman]

I think I vaguely remember this from back in the day.

[@Drixenol86]

Even the boss is replaced by a robot!

[@dennisgadison9955]

I remember this when I was a kid

[@justanordinaryclubman7633]

If everyone's going to replace there workers with machines......who gona buy the products now?

[@jojo-lp4rd]

this is really wonderful - it's obvious that something like 3ds studio renders were used as a guide and then probably traced? The irony of computers replacing animators is poignant - but the 'fat cat' boss with the cigar seems like something out of russian anti-capitalism propaganda. Thought provoking on so many levels, technologically relevant, and still a classic comic short a la 'tom and jerry'!

[@nicholasgarrett8818]

I first seen it in 2014

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

2D animation didn't die. It was killed.

[@frostbitetheannunakiiceind6574]

Fr

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

2D animation didn't died. It's still alive, but went unnoticed.

[@GadgetronInc]

You really are overreacting. 2D-animation is far from dead, I'd argue it's becoming more prominent again. Two examples to consider: Blender, the free 3D-modelling software, introduced lots of new tools to do 2D-animation these 2 last years. The latest Pixar movie "Soul" has some major characters that are essentially 2D, inhabiting a 3d-world. The only thing "dying" is the process of animating on actual paper, but saying 2d animation is dead is like saying carpentry is dead because power-tools exists!

[@aresnguyen_rsv]

Great animation.