What Do The LOONEY TUNES Mean In 2023?

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A look at the strange last few decades of the Looney Tunes and WB's many attempts to reboot the franchise
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CAST & CREW
Dave Wiskus / dwiskus
Emma Logsdon / msmegalodon
Mike Curran / mikel_curran
Jake Torpey
Brian Metolius www.brianmetolius.com/
Ryan Alva
Raven Thigpen
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00:00 Cold Open
02:56 Intro
05:50 A Brief History of the Looney Tunes
11:07 The 90s
24:26 Mickey Mouse
27:26 Back In Action
31:22 The 2000s
35:26 The Looney Tunes Now
45:27 Ending Scene

[@patrickhwillems]

If you want more talk about Space Jam 2 (a true nightmare of a movie), check out the extended cut on Nebula nebula.tv/videos/patrickhwillems-what-do-the-looney-tunes-mean-in-2023

[@linternamagica100]

I think it's terrible the fact that such bad and hollow movies were so important to the millenials and it's even worst that these millenials took so much to actually got how bad these movies are.

[@Tomhyde098]

I wish Nebula was on Xbox, I have to use it on my phone and I would love to watch it on my tv

[@dudenard4640]

@@Tomhyde098Xbox user, CRINGE!

[@DirtiestDMusic]

@@linternamagica100 Wait, what?

[@nooctip]

No one wants to talk about Space Jam 2.

[@WillScarlet16]

The sad truth is, WB has NEVER appreciated its own cartoons. The way Chuck Jones tells it, Jack Warner spent 30 years thinking they made Mickey Mouse cartoons, and when he found out they didn't, he closed the studio down. Over 50 years later, even with the characters' iconic status, the brass at Warners and HBO STILL make the cartoons their bottom priority, and they're always the first to be closed down.

[@Emplordxiii]

Well to begin with, WB didn’t make the cartoons until they bought off the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies in the mid-1940s. The studios were just under contract to produce shorts for WB(Think Disney before they bought Pixar in 2006).

[@WillScarlet16]

@@Emplordxiii Doesn't matter WHEN they bought them, the point is they've never properly appreciated them at any time.

[@afterdinnercreations936]

Because animation is expensive and time-consuming.

[@joestrike8537]

Mickey Mouse was famous in his heyday and (unlike "JL") Walt was a celebrity. Do you REALLY think the head of one major studio didn't know what his competition was up to? IIRC in an interview (this is all from memory, so take it with grain or two of salt) Chuck said JL was showing someone around the studio, passed by Termite Terrace and told his guest something like "that where we make our Mickey Mouses;" he could've been using "Mickey Mouses" as a generic term to describe his studio's cartoons. Chuck had a bit of an ego (with his talent, certainly entitled to one) so I can easily imagine him exaggerating or inventing a story out of thin air to put down a heavy-handed boss.

[@WillScarlet16]

@@joestrike8537 If Chuck had an ego, the head of a major studio had a bigger one. And it's obvious he had no real interest in what they were producing, any more than Leon Schlesinger did.

[@Gillty101]

Anyone else grow up with Looney Tunes on Cartoon Network in the 90s having absolutely no clue they were actually 30-60 year old syndicated reruns until later on because you hadn't learned Roman numerals yet?

[@Pedro_Larroza]

As a kid, timeless things like Disney and Looney Tunes didn't even spark that question in my mind. They all just... existed together, in my saturday mornings and summer vacations. But yes: I was REALLY surprised when I found out as an adult.

[@Emplordxiii]

I was aware because the sound quality was similar to movies of the 1930s-1960s I saw on various local stations.

[@dinosaysrawr]

Yes! It meant I had a warped perception of technology and pop culture, too, and also developed this implicit assumption that Disney movies in particular weren't "allowed" to take place in the present day. As a kid, I once spent several minutes trying to argue with the automated recording on the phone because I believed "she" was a telephone operator who'd connect me to my grandma, based on what I'd seen in the Looney Tunes cartoons.

[@JamesLawner]

I knew they were old based on the quality of the animation.

[@elizabethpemberton8445]

I grew up in the 70’s watching them and being aware that they were old, because the 70’s were all about employing stars from the 20’s-50’s who were getting old and whose contracts had not provided them with insurance or retirement (didn’t know that until recently, explains so much about Love Boat). Between that and the struggle the new UHF station had with filling airtime, we saw a lot of 50’s and 60’s movies and TV and cartoons, and our parents (mine were Silent generation, most others were Boomers) were happy to tell us exactly how old everything was and how old they were when it was on, and who all those caricatures of human stars in the Looney Tunes were. And how all those novelty songs we thought were from the 50’s were from the early 60’s.

[@HeavyMetalMouse]

I will say, the Looney Tunes Show sitcom felt the closest to being classic without being the anarchic chaos of the shorts. One of the strengths of the Golden Age shorts was in the way the writers came up with them - "We have these characters, and we understand what kind of characters they are, what they're about. They're wacky, and funny, and zany, each in their own way. We put some of them in a situation, and watch it explode." The fact that the shorts had an immediacy of conflict seems more like a facet of their format as shorts than a necessary condition of the way they get written, so the idea of a sitcom (literally a 'situation comedy') that is *all about* putting characters with established character archetypes and styles into a variety of situations is kind of the perfect fit extension of the shorts into a new format. These are characters who have been established as so inherently zany and fun, that you can literally say the setup line "Porky Pig has to renew his driver's license at the DMV." and the 'hikinks ensue' portion can almost write itself, because we know absolutely everything is going to go sideways in both expected and unexpected ways as other characters get involved. And now I know there are new shorts. Those will be great fun to watch as well. Thanks! :)

[@PowerChordEPS]

Like I said in my comment, I think part of why I loved TLTS was how it tuned in to the verbal humor of Looney Tunes, not just the zany slapstick we associate with cartoons of the past.

[@emmabennett7699]

Yeah. I think tlts was my first main experience with the looney tunes, and I loved that show as a kid. Slapstick was something I always found a bit boring, but tlts was right up my alley

[@raptorskilltor4554]

Fun fact: the looney tune show pilot was more chaotic and anarchic then the show but didn’t happen bc of how expensive it was

[@DemiIsNotHere]

Looney toons show just managed to make them being funny as characters themselves.

[@lvnar5734]

Honestly contrasting to what you had said, The Looney Tunes Show showed me that over-the-top cartoon violence and tropes wasn’t ever what made animation entertaining to me in the first place but rather the characters and jokes themselves. I grew up with that show and it opened up an absolute passion for cartoons that I still have to this day, I could not be more thankful for that show’s existence

[@theclownishbufoon]

you could not have said that any better.

[@trickshot_katebishop7612]

I totally agree! My first introduction to the looney tunes was The Looney Tunes Show, and it made me love them. I heard Chuck Jones say in an interview “If you strip away the background, colors, and environment, are the characters still the same” (referring to duck amuck) The characters are what matter, and I think the Looney Tunes Show did a good job portraying them.

[@ultimateslinger9857]

That show has some of the best humor I’ve seen since regular show or Amzing world of gumball

[@hcxpl1]

​@@ultimateslinger9857Man, the 2010s were great for Cartoon Network, such a shame most of the cartoons of the time were cancelled after a couple seasons and we don't really have anything of the kind going on right now

[@xeematthews8920]

I was gonna say! I loved the Looney Tunes Show, it is literally the only reason I have any connection to these characters at all. I still quote it to this day lol

[@brohiddlesby7010]

Honestly, when Pat was talking about CN’s Looney Tunes sitcom show and described it as “looney tunes characters calmly sitting in a living room” I had to laugh while thinking of the episode where Bugs maxes out his credit card in Romania and ends up getting thrown in prison for years until he gets broken out by the marines, and at that point in the episode Bug’s storyline crosses with Daffy’s where he mistakenly signs up to be a marine.

[@PanelPanda]

It had alot of things which tried to respect the original shorts We had the Merry Melodies which were great, Coyote/Road Runner shorts at the end of the show and Episodes like the one you mentioned where they decided to go a little crazy Another great one was Bugs losing his gloves and buying different ones changed his personality. Dismissing that show entirely isn't fair

[@DetectiveOlivaw]

The clip of Daffy shouting “KNOW YOUR ROLE” and spraying machine gun fire lives in my head rent free.

[@brohiddlesby7010]

@@DetectiveOlivaw YESSSSS

[@MrGrimlocke]

My favorite episode was the one where Daffy became a college professor and Bugs' entire identity changed because he was wearing different gloves and then it turned into an after school special lol

[@joestrike8537]

@@PanelPanda I agree...it took me a while to warm up to the show after Bugs got into a fistfight with Yosemite Sam; the *real* Bugs would never stoop to fisticuffs! Then I realized this isn't classic cartoons Bugs, this is TV sitcom Bugs who retired after inventing the carrot peeler - then I started enjoying the show. The show had several very unexpected moments, like Bugs coming across Sam fondling his' extra gloves in the rabbit's closet ('ooh, silky!'), and revealing Sam's last name is (wait for it...) "Rosenbaum"! Doesn't change anything about the character's history, but yeah, "Rosenbaum" sounds totally right. (His creator Friz (Isadore) Freleng was Jewish & a lot of his personality wound up in Sam.)

[@benwasserman8223]

Back in Action has always been super underrated. And unusually complex in giving Daffy character development.

[@srstriker6420]

Well they could have given more just by adding 3 more characters Melissa Duck, Hata Mari and Cecil Turtle

[@jordanwright2072]

@@srstriker6420 what would they have done?

[@joestrike8537]

Yes, they actually made Daffy more than the butt of every joke (which was mostly Chuck's doing.)

[@killergoose7643]

I watched Back in Action a ton growing up and loved Duck Dodgers too. Of the landfill of Looney Tunes spinoffs to come out after Space Jam, those two stand tall above the rest.

[@scottchaison1001]

@@srstriker6420 Don't say stupid things, the movie is great.

[@DetectiveOlivaw]

The Looney Tunes sitcom reboot was an extremely strange use of the characters, but it does have a couple all-time great visual gags that will live in my head forever - Daffy leading a military team rescuing Bugs from a Siberian gulag, and Lola Bunny looking up at the Eiffel Tower and saying “Stonehenge”

[@ondrejlukac5769]

What is this? Soviet Russia?

[@CoOlKyUbI96]

While it certainly was a departure from the original Looney Tunes, and the characters were very different from their original selves. I do think as it’s own standalone project it wasn’t so bad. It didn’t excel in every aspect but I do think it had some positive contributions to the brand

[@henryalsobrook8757]

I do wish you would've spent more time on The Looney Tunes Show especially since a lot of people my age (born in the early 2000s) regard it as one of the better cartoons of its time. I think simply disregarding it as "the sitcom one" misses a lot of the comedy that came from dropping these characters in a sitcom setting. It is weird seeing Bugs Bunny as a straight man, but a lot of the other characters (specifically Daffy) kept their anarchic nature. Also the show's version of Merry Melodies is hilarious. It is different from the originals but it's still a really good show in and of itself

[@CoyoteSeven]

How someone could just gloss over Daffy Duck as The Wizard without so much as a nod makes me doubt the validity of their analyses of Looney Tunes as a whole. This entire article is dotted with factual errors to begin with. Yes, Space Jam was terrible and Lola was worse. This makes her depiction in TLTS such a redemption of the character from a conceptual level. If I was gonna grade this video I'd give it a solid "C". Not bad but definitely room for improvement.

[@jstarwars360]

Nostalgia Critic did a pretty good video on the series.

[@Johnny0lovely69]

34:15 that cable episode involved Bugs going to war with the cable's customer service rep, Cecil the Turtle. And Daffy Duck wanted to become a cable service representative because he gets to be paid to be rude

[@trickshot_katebishop7612]

I love that show! It made me love the looney tunes 💕

[@ivyej]

I also think that using Bugs as the ‘straight man’ of the show works really well. Bugs has always been “above” the other characters in a way, always outsmarting them effortlessly, then throwing a wink to the audience. So it makes sense to me that in a sitcom setting, he would act as an anchor for the audience- there’s someone in the show that gets how insane the rest of the characters are being.

[@whatever32]

The thing about being part of the last generation to grow up watching the old original Looney Tunes shorts is that it wasn’t just their own individual comedy and animation we were appreciating; it was the cultural context in which they were made. Lemme clarify - I’m 28 and from Scotland, but it was watching LT and Tom & Jerry as a kid that primed me to have a cultural reference point for jazz culture, film noir, beatniks, opera, Classic literature, American history, Depression-era con-man culture, vaudeville, mafia movies, Universal monster characters, the list goes on. I mean, how many 6 year olds nowadays would recognise PETER LORRE as someone of cinematic significance if he showed up caricatured in… idk, Paw Patrol. I think exposure to these cultural touchstones at a young age opened my film-appreciating mind in a way that let me be far more receptive to classic movies and cinema history as I grew into a film-loving adult. Musicals and silent slapstick and transatlantic accents and tap dancing aren’t an immediate turn off, because we’ve grown up laughing when Daffy and Bugs do it. I was excited to see this video pop up in my recs because it’s a topic I’ve thought about a lot over the course of seeing my young relatives grow up in the 2010s. It occurred to me one day that these kids in my family won’t have seen the stuff I saw in the 90s, which was made in the 40s, referencing a Wagner piece from 1876. I watch them transfixed instead by youtube algorithm vomit like Finger Family or some kid opening egg toys, and it felt like… they’re missing out on the comedy genius of the Roadrunner shorts, yes, but they’re missing out on everything else too. Makes me kinda sad. Great video Patrick, I’ll be watching those new shorts too (which I did not know about until now, so thank you.)

[@philipbyers4903]

This comment is so severely underrated it hurts.

[@mytimetravellingdog]

Yeah, it's a shame the BBC specifically, but all the major channels in the UK and I assume the US etc as well have just stopped re-running this stuff in the late 00s. And not just cartoons but old silent cinema used to get shown. Also I think it's made kids programming worse to hive it off onto it's own channels. When it wasn't stuff like saturday/sunday morning programming before and after the kid's block on the BBC or channel 4 was often stuff that was able to appeal to kids and adults. Stuff like Laurel and Hardy or old sitcoms etc And it's really WB/Hannah Barbera et al's rank stupidity that they aren't getting kids to watch this stuff. They should be packaging them up and giving them away to channels to get them seen by kids before rebooting them again. It would not only expose another generation to some of the best animation ever made it's just in their best interest to make kids care about them. And watching the classic cartoons will help that in a way the crap reboots wont.

[@rotwang2000]

I agree, if you were lucky and had any affinity for it, you could glimpse in that world you just described. You learned a bit about their language, ideas and aspirations as well as how they saw the world (for better or worse)

[@jaye4521]

It really comes down to this, I think. The social context just isn't there anymore. The Looney Tunes characters and scenarios are basically all parodies/riffs on old cinema tropes, and they're made to work with that era's style of comedic framing. You can't just place them into a cartoon with modern writing sensibilities and expect it to produce instant comedy gold. It'd be like dropping a vaudeville performer into a MCU movie. Honestly, if the original Termite Terrace frontrunners were still making Looney Tunes in 2023, I think they'd have abandoned these characters when they stopped working decades ago in favor of trying new ideas, just like they tended to do during the studio's original run. Not that it always resulted in great material (here's looking at you, Cool Cat), but let's not forget that even characters like Daffy and Bugs were themselves, at one point in their histories, attempts at new, fresh faces meant to replace some of their older characters. Personally, I don't think Looney Tunes has ever really worked since the early 50s. The old stuff still holds up due to the strength of the comedic timing alone, but once WB started slashing the budget, it was already starting to unravel. Looney Tunes' style of comedy is indelibly linked to its theatrical style of animation and scoring, which is why it's never quite worked in a TV format. The only efforts that really got close to that were the 90s Spielberg cartoons, whose style of comedy and animation were a better replication of the Looney Tunes charm than anything the Looney Tunes themselves have managed to do since their original run.

[@georgeoldsterd8994]

Splendidly put!

[@nickfield1569]

'Looney Tunes: Back in Action' is a great example of my theory that every flop is at least partly attributed to its release schedule. Back in Action opened during the second weekend of unexpected smash hit 'Elf'. Disney's 'Brother Bear' was also still in theaters and the live-action Cat in the Hat opened the weekend afterward, so there was tons of competition for the family market at that time

[@georgeoldsterd8994]

I remember being really excited for 'Back in action' and not even hearing about the rest, or if I did hear about them, i just didn't care.

[@benmalsky9834]

I love Back in Action! I think it’s a highly underrated gem.

[@trickshot_katebishop7612]

Is it bad I kinda like Back in Action

[@noahbossier1131]

And cat and hat barely made money

[@carresser]

lol i know this is an old comment but hearing that back in action was a flop at its release made me wonder what it was up against, given that i'm partial to one of disney's own famous flop animated features that was marketed and released terribly (treasure planet my beloved

[@Ethan_Brant]

Looney Tunes still means a lot at the New Beverly in LA (that's Tarantino's theater for those who don't know), where they show a 16mm cartoon short before every movie! About 75% of the time it's a Looney Tunes short, and they always have the whole theater cracking up. It's especially great to see the audience reaction at a family matinee where there are kids in attendance who otherwise might not have been exposed to these cartoons. It really says a lot that audiences love these classic shorts today, 70+ years after they were first released.

[@ericjanssen394]

We used to have an annual college-theater sci-fi festival that, for twenty years, ritually began with a screening of the original Duck Dodgers--Don't claim that classic Looney is "outdated" until you've sat in an audience of 200 people that, en masse, shout along with "Then make way for...DUCK DODGERS, IN THE 24TH-1/2TH CENTURYYYY!!" (And a few that Rocky Horror along with Porky's "Happy b-birthday, you Thing From Another World, you.")

[@TheBuckweat33]

Theyre just funny, its frankly shameful they cannot recreate tht magic.

[@trickshot_katebishop7612]

Thank you!

[@OneAndOnlyYesMan]

My favourite bts anecdote for Space Jam is that when the credited VFX supervisor was brought on board they’d already shot the greenscreen sequences with Micheal Jordan. In which the toons were played by actors in green suits so that MJ had something to play off of. The only problem is that the director had zero understanding of how greenscreens work and regularly had the actors in their green suits walk in front of MJ and then instructing the VFX supervisor to “remove the greenscreen man and replace him with the toon”.

[@brandonbigler1516]

Well to be fair almost no one knew what green screen was in the 90s

[@OneAndOnlyYesMan]

@@brandonbigler1516 Well to be fair if you don’t know how to use something it’s generally best to find someone who does

[@Mewchu14]

The Looney Tunes Show had a zany energy to it I think you downplay a little here. Yes, it put them in this grounded environment, but a good few of the episodes take big insane swings. One episode features Daffy beginning to wear Bugs’s gloves and becoming an esteemed college professor, and Bugs wears motorcycle gloves to replace his classic ones, becoming a street punk who needs to be mentored by Daffy. Another has Granny revealing that she used to be a spy during WWII, and was rewarded by being given the actual Eiffel Tower, which she keeps in her back yard. I think what the show really did was take it’s grounded nature and used it more as a framing device to get to these insane, zany places. Not saying it was the best thing ever, but it did manage to get some of that energy in there.

[@lvnar5734]

Facts, rather than feeling like a cartoon that was grounded in reality it was a grounded show that felt like and literally was a cartoon I also remember those episodes where Daffy joins the military, and the ones where Lola takes her driving test is an absolute classic

[@CoOlKyUbI96]

I agree. It didn’t quite do everything right but I do feel like it still made worthwhile contributions to the Looney Tunes name while also trying to capture some of the original spirit. Plus characters such as Lola Bunny were given their own gags/quirks to try to justify their existence beyond just being a marketing device for Space Jam. A film series which is already just a big advertisement

[@benmalsky9834]

@@CoOlKyUbI96 I personally don’t view Space Jam as a big advertisement.

[@Anonymous-wg9ch]

Daffy didn’t turn out into a professor because he wore bug’s gloves, he turned out like that after changing his first name from “Daffy” to “Professor”

[@rdoino2210]

Kristen wig as Lola bunny is honestly the most funny thing that looney tunes has done in decades

[@natahliazaring5291]

Honestly, I think the thing about the "Sitcom Looney Tunes" that works the best for me is the fact that it effectively comments on the (at the time) trend of Sitcom TV. Part of what made many of the best classic shorts so good was that they were similarly aware and made in context to cultural or media trends of the time. They were anarchic and nonsensical, but they were *smart.* And while I think there are many parts of what made them iconic missing from their sitcom version, I think it managed to effectively capture more of the spirit of the classic cartoons than it is given credit for. On the other hand, I remember thinking this as a kid when it came out, but Lola in Space Jam really should have just been Bugs in costume. Everyone except Michael is dedicated to the bit the whole time, including multiple moments of Bugs running behind something and Lola running out the other side. Add in offhand comments from Lola about being Bugs's sister or cousin or something. Except then in the final scene it actually shows Bugs and Lola in the same room and Michael gets a moment of having his mind blown right before returning to the human world.

[@masonasaro2118]

ah, so combining the usual “bugs in drag” bit with the classic screwball joke where the screwball seems to be everywhere no matter where the protagonist goes, until at the end it turns out to have been the guy’s whole extended family!

[@ThePonderer]

Not to detract from Patrick’s sense of significance with the whole “my generation is the last to grow up on Looney Tunes” thing, but my own generation definitely ALSO grew up inundated with the original shorts, and I’m younger than him by like 15 years.

[@Tempo1337]

Tiny Toons and Animaniacs were actually just collections of cartoon shorts "wrapped" in a loose premise. They were for all intents and purposes just like the short collection TV shows of old. That's why they worked so well and are still beloved to this day.

[@matthomer1342]

Last year my son who was 9 at the time watched the new Space Jam and started watching Looney Tunes on HBO Max. His clear preference was for the 2011 sitcom version. I tried to get to watch both the originals and and the newest version that Patrick advocates for in this video, but he found the sitcom arrangement of these characters the most appealing.

[@dillbert4084]

Looney Tunes Show is funny but more similar to Tiny Toons and Taz Mania than the original shorts.

[@Turnoutburndown]

The boy is going to love Frasier in a few years

[@freddiegormack-smith8060]

Your son has great taste imho!

[@TheRockerX]

Having watched most of the properties you brought up in this essay, the 2011 sitcom version is still my favorite Looney Tunes property released in the last three decades.

[@momo1234567solo]

It feels he really didn't enjoy it or just watched a couple episodes. Because in spite of being serialized, in the context has ridiculous senarios, and the characterization of everyone is great. Daffy duck specially. But tye changes done to lola were amazing.

[@TheRockerX]

@@momo1234567solo Couldn't have said it better myself.

[@LonkinPork]

One serious blip in the Looney Tunes' history that I loved as a kid, but NEVER see anyone talk about were the direct-to-video pair of "Reality Check" and "Stranger Than Fiction," which were compilations of the Looney Tunes website's early-2000s webtoons. Some of the shorts were parodies of popular media of the time, including Survivor, Iron Chef, Fear Factor, and Judge Judy.

[@Unk.B.]

The looney Tunes Show Sitcom was Great, I loved it and It was the Version I grew up with. It makes so Many of the Original Cast and Lola Bunny into Proper Charcters.

[@benwasserman8223]

Also those DC/Looney Tune comic crossovers were far better than they had any right to be. People are still flabbergasted that Batman/Elmer Fudd was actually good and not “ironically funny.”

[@katherinealvarez9216]

Lola was hilarious.

[@Watch-0w1]

Yep and they made Lola enjoyable funny. Instead of a rule 34 furry bait.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

@@Watch-0w1 "Oh my gosh, you're never gonna believe this. There is a guy standing on the side of the road who looks just like you. I'm about to hit him."

[@ItsTheGuy77]

I genuinely don't get the hate for that show. I'm in my 30s & not only did I absolutely love it, so did all my little siblings. It was genuine laugh out loud funny

[@BugsyFoga]

Looney tunes definitely played a big part of my childhood, heck I’d even eat whole carrots because Bugs bunny did it, the impact was that huge .😁

[@variousthings6470]

Username checks out.

[@Pisomojado162]

Literally me too

[@HAL-st4ll]

Bet you see well at night

[@jst25]

As a child I would record Wile E Coyote/Road Runner Cartoons onto blank VHS tapes. I never understood the infatuation with Disney, other than Duck Tales it wasn't fun. Looney Tunes was always funny, and you'd think it would be perfect for the instant gratification world of KZbin and TikTok. One thing that Patrick didn't touch on is how some of the Looney Tunes characters are problematic in the modern world. Pepe Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, etc. Creates kind of a dammed if you do, dammed if you don't situation when they have to decide whether to change, abandon, or use these characters.

[@Peweskimooxy]

Oh wow, you're opening up old memories about carrots I had forgotten about!

[@megamasher3]

I’d argue that Mickey has had a major media presence over the last decade. The Clubhouse franchise is still going strong, and was and is huge for its preschool demographic. And the Paul Rudish Mickey shorts are some of the best short film content from either company since the Golden Era. The Looney Tunes have also done the same style shorts on HBO Max, Looney Tunes Cartoons, which are also fairly good.

[@HughRaine]

Agreed. Mickey Shorts and The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse kind of contradicts the point that you can't have it both ways: Reliable, wholesome icon AND anarchic shorts star. He's both, currently. And that new Mickey content is absolutely fantastic!

[@Deckotaocho]

@@HughRaine you mean Michael C Rodent?

[@GuineaPigEveryday]

Honestly Mickey was the least interesting character in the gang. As a Dutch person we grew up reading Donald the Duck comics which are insanely popular and still being made. Mickey is a minor and boring character there. Donald and his universe is so expansive. I think the future generations will definitely see Mickey’s RatPack cast of characters, but I think Donald Duck is watched/read the most

[@daman0585]

​​​@@GuineaPigEveryday L opinion. It's always been Minnie or Daisy who were the most boring at least Mickey had personality

[@CoOlKyUbI96]

@@GuineaPigEveryday it’s fine if you personally think Mickey is the most boring of the bunch. But I do think it’s a bit silly to not acknowledge that for many other people, Mickey is the most recognizable and interesting one in the group

[@dnightwalker]

Im convinced that Pat and his writting crew have NEVER seen "The Looney Tunes Show" because that show is FUNNY. Sure, it was set in the suburbs but that just meant that the Looney Tunes made the ordinary into extraordinary and funny. Not to mention that it gave us the best version of Lola.

[@tropicata]

Shoutout to Duck Dodgers the tv series. Fantastic show, really sharp writing and genuinely funny. If you're a fan of clever and cheeky pop culture parodies, that show has it in spades

[@thezenlu]

Agreed!

[@jeremyfuster7570]

They got Dave Goddamn Mustaine as a guest star and played a new song Megadeth had just released in that episode.

[@charlesintune]

I only watched the Green Lantern episode but omg it's sooo funny

[@michaelriverside1139]

@@charlesintune That one was awesome, thoug I'm still debating between the Coyote and Samurai Jack episodes, probably the latter since it was actually drawn by Tartakovsky's team!

[@benmalsky9834]

It makes me feel so much better about myself to see the longer-form Looney Tunes content have lots of fans out there. ❤

[@quiiquee]

Just saying The Looney Tunes Show (2011) def had it's moments 😎

[@BBMontalban]

the whole suburbs thing was really weird, but the made Lola into an absolutely hysterical character.

[@millamcinnes3751]

I absolutely loved this show! it had such a bizarre feel

[@daltonrogers3811]

absolutely. so many people wrote it off based on the premise alone, but it’s some of the best post golden age looney tunes media.

[@CoOlKyUbI96]

I agree. It doesn’t match the spirit of the original as much as I personally would have liked. But I still think it’s a welcomed part of the Looney Tunes brand.

[@frankshort8713]

I think the Duck Dodgers series is an underrated gem and a prime example of how to make Looney Tunes work in a half-hour format. All the right conflicts are there to make it funny - the characters are constantly fighting and trying to kill each other, there’s an out-there fantastical setting and it's all complete farce. It's basically the original Duck Dodgers short extended to an entire series, but with enough creative new ideas to keep it fresh. Granted, I haven't watched the show in years so it may not be as good as I remember, but I remember it being pretty darn funny.

[@MrTooner101]

During my peak viewing of Cartoon Network, The Looney Tunes Show was and still is one of my favorite shows to come out of that era of CN. Outside of the original cartoons and Back in Action, it's probably where I gained most exposure to these characters as a child.

[@AAAGamesMaster]

I know the Looney Tunes Show is a really weird use for those characters and doesn't have much to do with Looney Tunes but I'm still glad this show exists because to be honest, the show is just really funny and have really clever writers, no joke some of these episodes can even rival golden era Simpsons, is really good

[@josemunoz152]

I was a background actor for Coyote Vs. Acme and there hasn’t been a word said about it’s production. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of the many canceled projects like the Scoob Holiday Movie

[@DetectiveOlivaw]

This video was the first I’ve heard of that movie, ever, so yeah that could just be another tax write off opportunity like Batgirl

[@valerian-pg1lo]

No it's still coming out, the release date was just bumped back. It was not a planned HBO max original so it was not a part of any tax write off

[@benmalsky9834]

CinemaCon is just around the corner, so it’s only a matter of time before we get a release date!

[@benmalsky9834]

I cannot wait for Coyote vs. Acme.

[@josemunoz152]

Well. Here we are.

[@emperorbailey]

It's really weird how Patrick describes the Looney Tunes as languishing in obscurity in the 1980s. I watched them all the time as an 80s kid, they were extremely present in my daily life. As a little guy, I considered them the rival cartoon universe to Disney, like how people think of Marvel and DC now.

[@benmalsky9834]

That makes me think that Patrick is just an old man yelling at a cloud.

[@deanobeany]

Don't let facts get in the way of opinion lol

[@JLB0880]

Same I was born in 1980 and Looney Tunes are the only cartoons I actually remember watching consistently throughout my entire childhood.

[@Johnny0lovely69]

I think in that era they even made a bunch of compilation looney tunes movies too

[@GarudaMan9]

He means in terms of new material. There were the continued reruns of the theatrical shorts and compilation films based on the theatrical shorts (for which, a small handful of new Looney Tunes shorts were done). New productions based on Marvel and DC characters very much outpaced new Looney Tunes material, and even Disney did "DuckTales" in that era.

[@timeforlaurynsopinion5138]

i'm an early gen z and i loved the looney tunes as a kid and still do, but i never saw those classic shorts on tv. we got them on dvds sold with kids meals from fast food restaurants. i also had a pirated copy of back in action and i was obsessed with it and still love it. i really hope wb manages to figure out what to do with them because you're absolutely right, they're great characters.

[@benmalsky9834]

I’m always very optimistic about the future and I believe there is hope.

[@lynnwalsh7517]

Maybe no one else cares, but Loonatics Unleashed was my absolute favorite show in middle school! Since the show wasn't doing well, WB's Saturday morning block shoved it to earlier and earlier in the morning. As a result, my family set up a video tape to record it! The video tape became unnecessary once they released official DVDs for the two seasons, but there was (extremely limited) love for the show! ❤️

[@ausnetscience]

I have to agree I enjoyed it. It was a bit different but I had seen DBZ sailor moon and Eva by then so it was my thing

[@davincent98]

I was an adult when it aired and loved every minute of it

[@jeremyfuster7570]

I loved the hell out of Tech and Rev growing up. They were the best characters on that show and a fun way of reimagining the Wile E/Roadrunner dynamic of them being friends while still maintaining the slapstick.

[@ghostprince4284]

Yeah,Loonatics Unleashed Was Iconic AF And Cool As $h!t!

[@ghostprince4284]

@@jeremyfuster7570 Not To Mention Ace Bunny And Slam Were Also Pretty Accurate To Bugs And Tasmanian Devil As Well As Duck(Forgot His Name).

[@smbusinessowner]

It's great that when Patrick says that the Looney Tunes have an impact that can still be seen to this day, his example for "this day" is movie that's 30 years old

[@JorgeTorres-tl7vo]

The most recent example I can think of is Shoot ‘Em Up from 2007.

[@uneek35]

I do think they're impact can still be felt. They basically defined what cartoon comedy is.

[@matheus5230]

@@uneek35 Exactly. Every cartoon comedy out there owes to Looney Tunes. And the characters remain iconic.

[@lobachevscki]

I see what you say, but the point stands: Every single animator, animation director or supervisor, layout artist, storyboard artist a d character designer producing stuff today has seen and love the classic shorts

[@matheus5230]

@@lobachevscki Exactly. I don't think anyone becomes a professional animator without studying at least some of the Looney Tunes. They established the Golden Standard in many ways for animation, they are simply way too good, and also were way too innovative, to be ignored.

[@jimonaldo3108]

The Looney Tunes show from the 2010s was an absolute banger and no one can convince me otherwise. I fucking love that shit.

[@Wltrwllyngaeiou]

I honestly think that the branding of works pretty well for 6 Flags. Disney is light and family friendly, while 6 Flags is a place geared more towards a teenage audience of thrill-seekers. Fits with Batman being positioned as a grittier superhero too

[@Mr.Maguro]

For those interested, I really recommend Kaiserbeamz docummentary on the Looney Tunes. It covers many aspects of not just the franchise's early days, but the careers of the animators and staff involved in their creation, as well as the medium the shorts were made for.

[@DirtiestDMusic]

Seconded! I would also recommend Pop Arena's video on the history of Looney Tunes on TV.

[@sonicfanboy3375]

The channel is actually called Kaiserbeamz Kyoto Video is another series he made

[@johnnychopsocky]

It's a great and really in-depth series of videos

[@djnekroman]

A truly superb history of the Tunes. Can't wait for the final video.

[@JustinCoasters]

I hate his retrospectives, He promotes Chuck too much and gets facts wrong.

[@ajerqureshi6411]

I'm actually surprised you didn't talk about the 2015-2020 show New Looney Tunes (or Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production as it was originally called). Unlike previous productions at the time, the show was split into two segments, each lasting around 11 minutes or so, and harkened back to the original roots of the Looney Tunes, giving characters like Bugs, Daffy, and Porky designs inspired by their old appearances. Even the plotlines of the episodes themselves leaned back to the old-school Looney Tunes vibe of characters getting into violent battle of wits with bigger enemies and bullies. The issues the show had though was that it was (just like the newest Looney Tunes shorts) buried under a lot of content with nobody bothering to look it up. Even the ones that did were initially turned off by how the first season was primarily Bugs Bunny focused with only minor cameos from other Looney Tunes characters. The 2nd and 3rd season (which changed the name to New Looney Tunes) brought most of the classic Looney Tunes back and had more equal focus.

[@DetectiveOlivaw]

This is the first I’m hearing of this show! It’s also the first I heard of the Looney Tunes Cartoons that Patrick mentioned, and the Coyote vs Acme movie which is apparently coming out this year! I don’t know who’s in charge of that brand at Warner Brothers but they’re seriously asleep at the wheel!

[@Ashestoashesjc]

Exactly this. I was waiting for him to bring it up since it seems closer to what he wants from the characters.

[@MrGittz]

Um…he did talk about it. Did you not watch the video? Edit: My mistake this is a different show. Apologies

[@MrGittz]

@@Ashestoashesjc he did bright it up! He shows clips from them for Christ sakes lol. He says they are awesome Edit: My mistake this is a different show. Apologies

[@ajerqureshi6411]

@@MrGittz While he talked about shows like Looney Tunes show, Lunatics Unleashed, and Looney Tunes Cartoons, not once did he actually talk about either Wabbit or New Looney Tunes. Maybe there was a brief clip, but he never actually talked about the show itself.

[@aidanwotherspoon905]

Despite the fact that no CEO would agree to this in a million years, I think the best way to preserve the Looney Tunes in the 21st century would be to upload the shorts on KZbin, and then start releasing the new ones on the same channel. I don’t think Looney Tunes is going to sell people a paid streaming service, but if the shorts, both old and new, started getting pushed on the right demographic’s KZbin feed, it would preserve their cultural relevance, and by extension their usefulness as mascots for WB

[@kieranleppington9152]

What's frustrating is how the Looney Tunes' creative resurgence could be cut short any day thanks to the Warner-Discovery content purge. Two very promising movies, 'The Day the Earth Blew Up' and 'Bye Bye Bunny' risk getting the axe if none of the streaming services want them. And I doubt many potential viewers even know they exist :(

[@benmalsky9834]

I think they WILL get picked up.

[@keithquirk9823]

I feel like there’s one thing that is clearly missing from this, which I think WB missed also. Donald Duck and Goofy were meant to be Disney’s answer to Looney Tunes. If you watch those old Donald and Goofy cartoons (Chip and Dale too) you’ll see they have that same manic life-or-death energy. And those cartoons died as well with time. But then Disney did something with these two that brought them back into the zeitgeist in the 80s and 90s. That is DuckTales and Goof Troop. And that’s what the Looney Tunes should do. Find what the essence of the characters is and make content that fits it. All the best and most endearing Goofy cartoons were ones where Goofy was trying to show us how to do something and he was failing upwards along the way. So what do they do in Goof Troop? Goofy tries to show us how to be a single parent raising an impressionable son. And he fails upwards into Goofy Movie which might be the best cartoon Disney made in the 90s. Fight me Lion King fans. That’s what WB should do with Bugs. He’s gender fluid. It’s 2023. Have a gender fluid figure from the 1930s show us how to be gender fluid while failing upwards. Or whatever. I hope you get the point

[@Emplordxiii]

The reason it has been harder for the Looney Tunes than Disney’s Fab Five is because the original Looney Tunes were geared towards adults and WB is trying to reboot a group of violent characters that love to get the upper hand by whatever means necessary into something for kids.

[@nancykerrigan]

As a a fan of Goof Troop and Lion King I can assure you there's room for both at the top of 90s Disney cartoons.

[@lamecasuelas2]

You might have a point there, the lion King starts really strong but somehow the last part Is not as coherent, it's not bad but FOR example, once Scar takes the throne he stops being interesting

[@joestrike8537]

I'd like to see them bring back the 1960's "Bugs Bunny Show" premise where they wove theatrical cartoons togther with new footage. It was set in a theater with the characters putting on a show & backstage moments between the 'toons like the old Muppet Show. Remember "the Scarlet Pumpernickel" with the LT characters like a repertory company playing characters in the movie? (Even Henery Chickenhawk as a scribe!) It was the only cartoon they did that in, but boy I'd love to see more like that one!

[@AdamYJ]

In a lot of ways, the Disney Afternoon cartoons draw more on the spirit of the Disney comics, though.

[@KelleyGreenEcstasy]

Glad to see Emma getting some lines 💐 really enjoying this bold new era for you show

[@ausnetscience]

I enjoyed the sitcom version of the characters because it was something different for them and it still had some fun slapstick moments. I also really liked how Lola was depicted in the show, I’m ADHA so I might be biased towards probable neurodiverse characters

[@AIOctober]

Please god let "Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical" have its production completed so that thing can finally see the light of day...

[@matheus5230]

Legendary cartoon icons forever, even if the magic of the original shorts might be impossible to fully recapture. But Warner Bros. keeps trying because they know how huge Looney Tunes are in culture. Legends of animation that will be forever treasured by anyone who loves animation, and more.

[@utubrGaming]

I think people will always like animation, and slapstick physical comedy is damn near universal in appeal. David Zaslav be dammed, the Looney Tunes will always find a home and audience.

[@Watch-0w1]

Nah they need to innovated . They should have evolve like animaniac from the 90. Or the sitcom one was a great example

[@TinyToonStar]

​@@Watch-0w1 I think certain aspects of it could be innovated but I'd like their personalities to mostly remain the same. Also whether Animaniacs' evolution was a good thing or a bad thing is debatable. The 2020 reboot left a bitter taste in my mouth as an OG fan.

[@Watch-0w1]

@@TinyToonStar but can theyre personality work in the same room. Usually they're rival in short . Look Elmer Fudd ,who he is in space jam

[@TinyToonStar]

@@Watch-0w1 ...what are you talking about??

[@Watch-0w1]

@@TinyToonStar usually half the characters are preying on each other. How can they co exist?look Space jame Elmer Fudd.

[@Weatherhamshire]

It is also worth pointing out that the Looney Tunes characters weren't entirely aimed at kids, they weren't just goofy cartoons. They were actually quite dark, witty, subtle, and featured many (often satirical) nods & winks to both the culture and Hollywood stars/movies of the era.

[@popemon7608]

Slight correction, or perhaps better put, a slight nuance for 26:40 Six Flags actually has (or at least had) a core theme. The original park was designed around the celebration of the six nations who have flown flags over the state, and the history of Texas at those times. To this day, when you go to the park in Arlington, you can still see the division of certain areas of the as being different countries, and some of the rides and attractions have maintained the theming. (For instance, the Texas region still has live reenactments of gunslingers fighting and various historical or historically inspired characters in the Summer) When WB bought the parks, they started to strip the themeing out of them and shoehorn the Looney Tunes as park mascots, but this has always been a weird shotgun marriage. It's easier at the non-Texan parks that have little to no connection with the park history, but it really has transformed the original park into a monstrosity almost unrecognizable from what it was, especially back in the early days of the 60s.

[@TDOTCRFH4]

I strongly recommend Kaiserbeamz's Merry History of Looney Tunes, probably the single best youtube deep dive into the franchise's history.

[@katherinealvarez9216]

Kaiserbeamz? Cool, thanks for the recommendation.

[@jaredhebert942]

I agree, one of the best documentary series I've seen - well-researched, a clear passion project, amateur really only by technicality, mostly unbiased (aside from some minor bits) - a great watch for newcomers!

[@rentless666]

Oddly enough there are a bunch of new Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts on KZbin as well and they kinda use the Loony Tunes formula, which is kinda odd, but also works great.

[@Gemnist98]

I’ve been telling people for YEARS how incredible that show is (and it’s still going on Disney+). Mickey finally came into his own with those shorts and hardly anyone knows it.

[@EtruskenRaider]

Space Jam might not be the peak of animation BUT it’s really interesting in the context of the 90’s NBA. Because Jordan was training for the upcoming 95-96 season during filming, they constructed a court where he could play against the other NBA players in the movie and any other NBA guys who happened to be in LA. The scrimmages became legendary with the top talents in basketball going against each other in shockingly intense matches. In some ways, it became Jordan’s fuel for the 72-10 1996 Bulls that saw him reclaim the MVP crown and the NBA championship.

[@Fejrus887]

As a very old Gen Z/super young millenial, I actually did grow up with the classic Looney Tunes, because I live in Germany. The TV Channel 'Kabel Eins' showed the classic Looney Tunes cartoons every saturday morning from 2005 to 2011. So if there isn't another foreign channel that still transmitted it later than 2011, that is the last generation to grow up with classic Looney Tunes! Also very curious about those new cartoons, thanks a lot Patrick! :D

[@patrickhumphrey3076]

The Looney Tunes Show will always be by far my favorite use of these characters; I’m playing that for my kids 24/7

[@DirtiestDMusic]

Hey Patrick, fellow millennial here. This was a fantastic video, as always. I thought I would throw my two cents in. For a long time, I also assumed that the classic Looney Tunes shorts weren't part of modern pop culture. However, I recently learned that there's one place where kids still watch them: KZbin. Specifically, unlicensed compilation videos that string together dozens of shorts at a time. Parents show them to their kids, kids find them on their own, and I've even seen them playing in places like ice cream shops. WB might not be promoting the old shorts, but fans have made them available to everyone. At least some of the younger people I see on places like Discord seem like genuine fans of classic Tunes. (Young people also really seem to like that 2011 sitcom show. One of my online friends thought you didn't give it a fair shake.) Also: I must begrudgingly admit that yeah, Space Jam is a bad movie. But Patrick, did you and your friends also quote it endlessly like mine did? "It WASN'T a dream! It really happened!" "Be gone, wannabe! Be gone!" "Is this yo' man?" "Wussy man." "Yeah, wussy man!" "He's fixing a divot!" It's not good, but it's peak-mid-90s.

[@sonicfanboy3375]

Some of those classic shorts can be pretty racist though...

[@DirtiestDMusic]

@@sonicfanboy3375 Oh, totally. I'm not defending the content. I'm just saying that kids are still watching the old shorts in a way Patrick didn't address in the video.

[@MHassan1986]

OMG, That's what I've done a few times before they were added to hbo max. though my daughters liked classic tom and jerry a lot more but yeah. loved those compilations.

[@MHassan1986]

@@sonicfanboy3375 I think WB added a disclaimer on the Looney tunes collection over those shorts which I think is the golden standard for how to address problematic content in your catalogue.

[@icecreamhero2375]

@@sonicfanboy3375 Usually not. That's just 1%.

[@MostlyPonies1]

Tiny Toons was a successful revamp with the same character types and humor as the old cartoons. But despite having reruns for many years even the Tiny Toons are forgotten now.

[@RobertJones]

I just watched the first episode of the HBO series you talked about and you are TOTALLY right about them. This feels just like the old stuff I watched growing up. Were it not for the character designs being slightly different and the aspect ratio going widescreen I would genuinely have no idea they weren't the classics. Thanks for the new entertainment rec!

[@TubezThe1]

I have been saying for a long time, if you were going to do a Space Jam sequel, get Serena Williams and call it "Space Slam", like grand slam. The plot is Venus having been kidnapped by the villains of the last movie, and now Serena has to work with the Looney Tunes to get her back. You can basically treated like a Mario Power Tennis with absurd super moves, Bugs hitting a bunch of carrots like missiles, Elmor Fud shooting the ball back out his shotgun, Tweety becomes the ball. So many missed opportunities.

[@KremBotop]

Iirc there were actually plans to pursuit the "different sport and athletes" route with a Space Jam spinoff based on skateboarding and WB almost agreed with Tony Hawk to star in it. But things simply didn't pan out and after failing to get other spinoff ideas off the ground they apparently just settled with Space Jam 2

[@gruwidge]

I think there is 2 intresting things about the looney tunes dark ages and the reboots that came: 1. Where I grew up in Australia, the shorts were still running and still are running on Kids WB every Saturday and Sunday morning. Kids are still waking up at 7 am and watching cartoons made over 50 years ago, and whenever I talk to someone my age (22) or younger they all know and remember growing up with the tunes, and it's interesting and sad to hear that across the pond that wasn't the case. 2. In the reboot cartoons like you mention, they tend to take the edge away from the characters, especially Bugs, but I feel like out of all the characters they stood true to Daffy the most. He continued to be a selfish, thieving, lying, scheming, underdog that always got what was coming to him whether it be Back in Action, Duck Dodgers, or The Looney Tunes Show (2011). His character has been so consistent and is probably one of the reasons why he's my favorite Looney Tunes character.

[@ItsMichaelReid]

Your take on the reboot is exactly what I thought. The old cartoons had this dark cynical edge that the new ones I feel are missing big time. Like a lot of the Looney tunes were spiteful conniving and just would keep kicking the bad guy down even if he was on his knees crying. BUT it was hilarious!

[@ianwood5362]

To this day I often quote Daffy from a single cartoon. It started when in college I started donating plasma which surprised a lot of people who knew me given my general fear of needles growing up that even persisted when I was in high school. When they asked why I fired off a quote from a cartoon with Daffy and Taz, "I'm a coward, but I'm a greedy little coward." kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2iUpqSMZbF7l8k

[@benmalsky9834]

@@ItsMichaelReid Let’s be honest, is the dark cynical edge always necessary?

[@titanguy7316]

Just a slight rebuttal: Because of the popularity of Tiny Tunes (while Batman was surging as a film property), we also got Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Eric Radomski, and several other WB animation alums at the time to produce "Batman: The Animated Series," paving the way for the DCAU/"Timmverse" of interconnected DC shows starring the likes of Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Clancy Brown, and so, so many others. So at least two good things were born of the circumstances that led to "Space Jam" (a movie I love, but will freely admit, is pretty bad).

[@benmalsky9834]

So is a “it’s so bad it’s good” kind of relationship?

[@GuyEdwards001]

I’m a long-time subscriber and love this new format with a non-topical essay. Please do more! I love the run-time, it allows you to provide the deep dive context to your thesis.

[@katherinealvarez9216]

Has anyone watched those complication movies? Actually I remember this one Daffy Duck short where he tries to capture Taz for reward money. At the end, he gets the money but a dollar flies off into Taz's cage. Daffy runs inside, beats the stuffing out of Taz to get the dollar back. When he leaves, he says "I'm a coward but I'm a greedy coward." It's like comedy gold to me.

[@fantasyoverture]

SO glad that Looney Tunes Back In Action seems to be getting some love retrospectively, like in this video. Like Patrick said, it's not a perfect movie but it's faaaaar better and funnier than Space Jam in every way (which has always been my hottest take amongst my friends over the years) and truly captured the spirit and energy of Chuck Jones-era Looney Tunes down to the character design.

[@icecreamhero2375]

That movie was my introduction to Looney Tunes. I watched it all the time growing up.

[@MarquisdeL3]

Years ago my friends had a Space Jam night because one of them hadn't seen it, despite being a Millennial of the right age. At the end of the night, she quietly confessed that she thought the movie was terrible and all of us agreed. If we didn't have the nostalgic connection, it would have been miserable.

[@Wired4Life2]

@@MarquisdeL3 I saw _Looney Tunes: Back in Action_ for the 1st time in late summer 2021, and... I can't do it. I've liked _Space Jam_ all 20+ years of my life. One gorgeously-animated Louvre chase amid a disjointed madcap adventure with some classic Looney Tunes bright spots can't top the weird yet iconic alchemy of every minute of _Space Jam._

[@CoOlKyUbI96]

Regardless of your personal opinion on the original Space Jam, at least there’s no denying that the people making the film actually put in effort. From the animation, to the soundtrack, etc. It’s much better than the sequel which seemed to be heavily reliant on big names and references to carry the film

[@joestrike8537]

@@CoOlKyUbI96 Someone referred to the recent Chip & Dale 2D/3D direct to D+ movie (that's D+ as both an abbreviation of "Disney+" and my personal grade for the film) as "References: The Movie." 😛

[@Kosh131]

Actually, the WB Characters were the mascots for Six Flags long before the 90's. I remember going to Great America in Gurnee, IL and they had the WB Characters walking around the park back in the 1970s.

[@wjsproductions1784]

Ok seeing the Looney Tunes in traditional sitcom roles was genuinely hilarious and a good shake-up to both the traditional sitcom format and the traditional Looney Tunes formula.

[@benmalsky9834]

I agree

[@TheSalts]

Growing up I didn't even realize how old the Looney Tunes were since my first taste of the cartoons were repeats on Cartoon Network (AUS) or Space Jam. Late 90s to early 2000s were still a good time for them I feel. Though I didn't really see anything new (despite it existing, my friend loved Duck Dodgers) from them until The Looney Tunes Show which I loved and gave actual character to Lola Bunny. Changing the setting of the characters can work but if one is worried about the enduring legacy as a creator in the end I feel if you stick to the heart of what makes Looney Tunes what they are they are never going to go out of style because it is funny. Similar to what Disney has done with the Mickey Mouse shorts you see on KZbin. It refreshed Mickey in a way that has connected with the internet age. At least on Twitter I keep seeing viral clips shared month to month.

[@juliiju0484]

Maybe this isn't historically correct, but I do feel that Space Jam was the movie that would mark how many of the adaptations of classic cartoon characters to film would be made. The Smurfs, Woody Woodpecker, Alvin and the Chipmunks, you know the kind of movies I'm talking about. And all of that started with Space Jam.

[@Joltimus22]

Back in Action in particular really needs a big resurgence, it's SO GOOD.

[@BetweenThePanels]

While I can respect your opinion that you think the space jam movie is bad, I also don't think you reviewed the movie as you should of when rewatching it cause you were only looking it from the cartoons perspective and not as a mixed of both live action and and animation. At the end of the day mixing animation and live action is always going to produce different results from what you saw as just a straight cartoon, and the fact that you didn't find them funny in it, is subjective considering comedy hits everyone differently. But also to add to that is that Lola isn't just a character beloved by guys, tons of women that grew up with that movie now are older and cosplay as her or still own there original t shirts that came out for the movie and almost every looney tools character besides the granny character is a dude, so why wouldn't you introduce a character like Lola to change up a group dynami? And having her there doesn't take away from bugs bunny having his cross dressing jokes. At the end of the day I really do think space jam was a really well thought out movie and till this day is one of the only cross between live action and animation film that didn't just copy and paste the who framed Rodgers rabbit movie script. Cause all the other ones did up till that point and after.

[@Bedinsis]

The comment about how the characters where only ever created to not engage emotionally but have 7 minutes of anarchic gags reminded me of Tom & Jerry and Mr. Bean, two other shows with similar problems when they tried to adapt them to feature length films.

[@averyhinks1799]

Space Jam and Back in Action were two of the most formative films of my childhood. I watched them on VHS all the time.

[@StephenFord]

This is super difficult to watch after the news of Zaslav nuking COYOTE vs ACME

[@andrewbrasuell8589]

I was in 5th grade when Space Jam came out, and it was the biggest thing ever. Everyone had the soundtrack, everyone loved that movie, everyone quoted it.

[@ryantiller5624]

Same. Come on and SLAM and welcome to the JAM

[@Langolyer2010]

The Looney Tunes Show was great, I remember it quite fondly. Though I'm not from USA and dont have a deep history with this franchise.

[@TheHistoryofBiology]

I remember reading an old atlas from the middle of the 20th century on... Birds of prey I think, and there was a little faded doodle of Bugs Bunny on the side about as old as the atlas itself. Just an interesting anecdote

[@The64Whore]

I was born in 1993 so I was the perfect age for every looney toons project in this reboot era. Roger Rabbit gave me the idea all Cartoons were actors so to me every iteration made sense much like the Muppets. I was in college when Looney Toons show hit and freaking loved it and found it fresh. My entire life Ive heard they were no longer relevant much like ive been told to dislike Jar Jar. And I just dont

[@liamwelch505]

Your lighting in your skits has gotten so much better! Very well done

[@garjo7131]

Those new Looney Tunes Cartoons on HBO Max are true hidden gems. I've been watching those since they started, and it boggles my mind that they aren't discussed more than they are outside of niche animation circles and Looney Tunes fans.

[@kassjames5301]

"Lola is an awful character" - I think my parents said this WHILE watching the film.

[@icecreamhero2375]

She is fine you just need to use her right. Just put her in a straight man role or use her being sporty to tell gags. You can also have her weaponize her sexiness.

[@kate_cooper]

My nieces (born in 2014 and 2016) had never heard of Bugs Bunny until last year. I found some compliation videos of him on KZbin and they loved him. Shame I could find very little in the way of full cartoons to show them.

[@jpd44]

One of the important elements of Looney Tunes comedy is ‘mistaken meaning.’ And one of the more interesting recent Looney Tunes projects is the audio podcast, ‘Bugs and Daffy‘s Thanksgiving Road Trip.’ Interesting insomuch as there is, of course, no opportunity for physical slapstick in an audio format. The podcast series really highlights how important ‘mistaken meaning’ is to making something FEEL like Looney Tunes. It’s an interesting, and funny, listen if you ever have the chance. Also, quick correction, the press reaction to the first batch of HBO Max shorts certainly focused on the lack of guns. But the subsequent seasons have featured guns. Warners probably realized no one was watching and so they could therefore do whatever they wanted with these characters.

[@lamecasuelas2]

Edit: Haha! I was just re watching Looney tunes back in action Yesterday. It's not as bad as everyone say's but you can definetelly notice the studio interference stuff, they should have just let Joe Dante do his stuff. Also the Looney tunes show was under rated. Also Duck amuck Is very much the GOAT. Also Porky in wackyland is...... I mean!! Anyway, i specifically consider Looney Tunes some of the greatest pieces of American cinema, the reason why they hold up for me because: A): With Tex Avery coming to the realizatión that animatión Is a medium of liberty in which you can very much bend and stretch reality to whatever extent you want, he opened the door and Let the imagination of everyone envolved with the shorts to Let loose. B) the short form of the cartoons means that they had to be very right, there's not much wasting of ideas or Time. C) It allowed the characters and creators to evolve and refine the styles over Time, like just watch Early Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng and compare It to their later work. D) their influence over animatión in general Is still palpable today, chances aré that if you know a famous show or renewd animatión working today Is very likely for them to point Out to Looney tunes as early sources of inspiratión. E) It exposed a lot of people to weird shit, like i think that a lot of people give It for granted but there Is a lot of weird shit in those cartoons, like the Big eye in Duck Dodgers or pretty much everything in something like The great piggy bank robbery, that's not a point i want to make but i just think Is cool and work mentionig. But i digress, i just really love the Looney tunes.

[@justinriley]

The 2020s feel like they're full of uncertainty, especially with WBD cutting content left and right.

[@s_c_d]

My kids loved Looney Tunes Cartoons! I am so glad you got to this - we were blown away with how good these are. And seeing the anarchic spirit of the originals taking on new forms has been great. With Johnny Ryan of all people working on it!? Thanks for getting to this.

[@Blairskirock]

I adore the new Looney Tunes shorts for HBO Max. The way they're allowed to be more explicit makes up for the difference in wit between them and the originals.

[@galacticglamourgirl]

Great video! You've pretty much summed up all my problems with how WB's been treating/portraying the characters since Space Jam. Also, I'd like to say I like The Looney Tunes Show but it would've been better if they shortened the run time of each episode and kept the suburban setting BUT kept the characters as violent and zany as they used to be...so essentially the Slappy Squirrel segments from Animaniacs (which by the way the third season of it's reboot just dropped, so to anyone who's reading this, go watch it!)

[@The11thEvilEx]

Lola Bunny is a character I want to love. A woman in the Tunes gang, hell yeah, but she just disappoints me for all the reasons you described. The Looney Tunes Show has it's flaws, but it's revamping of Lola was a step in the right direction and I hope we can see her engage in some true Looney anarchy in future shorts to come.

[@frankfilippelli]

I think you make a lot of valid points, and you’re clearly coming from a genuine place of love. But as one of the biggest classic Looney Tunes fans of all time, I have to say you’re kind of not doing some of these reboots justice. Most of them are actually quite good, and true to the characters. And probably the best one is the “Looney Tunes show” it’s not just some slow pace boring sitcom like you described it. It’s actually incredibly funny topical humor while again staying very true to every single character in the Looney Tunes lineup. for true fans, it’s actually a great opportunity to dive deeper into the characters. I would highly recommend it to anyone. And as far as the reboots in general, you have to consider the fact that one of the things that makes the Looney Tunes so amazing and timeless is their ability to adapt to changing times while still keeping their authentic charm, not many classic cartoons can do that.

[@5stardave]

I was 31 when "Space Jam" was released, it was amazing then and it is amazing now. Lola is also a great character.

[@robertwild9447]

You can't talk about "Kilms" without mentioning "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", easily one of Val Kilmer's best movies.

[@sethboyum7420]

I was disappointed that "Prince of Egypt" didn't get mentioned as one of the "kilms," myself.

[@robertwild9447]

@@sethboyum7420 "Prince of Egypt" is also one of my favorite Kilms, for sure 🙂

[@Zed-fq3lj]

Back in Action was a great underrated movie! Looney Tunes are best cartoon characters ever!

[@eliomarnahr201]

Patrick, thanks again for your hard work!!! Again a wonderful video

[@Pakewl]

The Looney Tunes Show was real good though. Bugs' characterisation was weird, but everyone else was on point. Daffy was amazing and Lola was not only good but actually great. That might be my favourite Loney Tunes media ever.

[@morbid1.]

If you're an Animator. Looney Tunes is a MUST WATCH.

[@byrondunbaranimation]

I work in animation and I want to take a minute to sing The Looney Tunes Show's praises, as I don't think this video gave it a fair shake.. The show was not just the characters sitting around and talking, and I don't know how someone could have that impression unless they'd only watched maybe part of an episode. Yes, it had a sitcom format but it is not accurate to say the looniness, violence, and folkloric archetypes were gone. You'd have episodes that start off with a tame traditional sitcom plot, but by the end, explode into levels of insanity only the Looney Tunes can. This was a very appealing combination to me, as I enjoyed animated sitcoms like South Park and Mike Judge's work during a period I was not drawing, even though the visual style of animated sitcoms is generally not to my taste. This show married classic wacky animation and modern animated sitcoms together in a way that made me excited to draw again. I grew up loving not just classic Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies shorts, but also Fleischer, Disney, and the resurgence that style had in the 1990s thanks to shows like Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. When I finally got old enough to work in animation myself, I was very disappointed I didn't grew to draw in that style which was considered dated by then. I lost my passion and stopped drawing for myself for a period of six years. But when I discovered The Looney Tunes Show in 2021, while it updated the look and humor of Tunes, it maintained the things that were appealing to me about the original classic animation. Both visually (in Jessica Borutski's amazing designs, modern yet with classic appeal) and in its writing. It actually got me rewatching the original shorts and drawing for myself again. Now I'm doing my own little comics and while it's just a hobby (my day job is not on these sort of productions), I feel satisfied as an artist. I have The Looney Tunes Show to thank for this. I also want to stop and note that this show turned Lola Bunny from a character I’d forgotten existed into perhaps my favorite Looney Tune. I don’t know if this was intentional, but Lola struck me as having autism which is a condition I have myself, and it made her very relatable to me. Her wide-eyed innocence and lack of self-awareness reminded me of myself when I was younger, more enthusiastic, and less cynical. I discovered The Looney Tunes Show around the time I had to move for work and left behind my friends and family, so watching Lola and being reminded of myself when I was younger gave me a lot of comfort. That's another reason this show is special to me and I'm really glad it got made. I wish it had lasted a bit longer (maybe another season or two) and that this version of Lola had become a permanent fixture in the franchise. In addition to an autistic inner child, I also think of her as sort of a female version of Beavis (from Beavis and Butt-Head) mixed with Bob Clampett's version of Daffy Duck and that combo would have shined in the classic short format used in Looney Tunes Cartoons.

[@zynthstar2]

Absolutely fantastic stuff as always!! :] Can’t wait for the best of 2022 vid

[@nerdwarp112]

I loved Looney Tunes: Back in Action when I was younger. I remember watching it whenever it aired on Cartoon Network.

[@LonkinPork]

I remember the _Duck Dodgers_ show and watched it occasionally, but the only episode that really sticks out in my mind was when WB remembered they have the DC license and made Daffy/Dodgers a Green Lantern

[@benmalsky9834]

I absolutely love that Green Lantern episode. And it even landed Daffy a spot as an unlockable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham!

[@orsonzedd]

"The past 30 years of Looney Tunes" holy shit it's been 30 years

[@yoshim616]

I think WB needs to do what Disney has done with their new Mickey Mouse cartoons. Disney puts their new Mickey Mouse shorts on KZbin and promotes them well on Disney plus, and those shorts have been successful to the point that they’ve made a ride in the Disney Parks based on these versions of the characters. Also those Mickey Mouse shorts are really good, and they don’t have that safe image of Mickey, so I think it’s a pretty good comparison with the new Looney Tunes shorts.

[@benmalsky9834]

I mean, the Paul Ruddish Mickey Mouse shorts have millions, I mean SEVERAL MILLIONS of views! It’s very clear how much they resonate with people and how being on KZbin has been very beneficial for those wanting to share the love and passion for Mickey.

[@yoshim616]

@@benmalsky9834 Yeah exactly, they resonate with people and now there are fans of this version of Mickey and keeps the character in the culture in some way.

[@benmalsky9834]

@@yoshim616 I think of the HBO Max Looney Tunes shorts get uploaded to the WB Kids KZbin channel, they would definitely reach the 100 million views mark just like Mickey, because there’s clearly a very passionate audience for those characters and that style of humor, and the kids of today would love them.